BACKGROUND Until recently onchocerciasis was prevalent in 37 out of 112 districts of Uganda with at least 3.8 million people at risk of contracting the disease, but following the launching of community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) in 1996 and the adoption of an onchocerciasis elimination policy in 2007, the country has made significant progress in combating the disease. By 2015, in...

BACKGROUND Onchocerciasis results from infestation by the nematode Onchocerca volvulus, and is characterized clinically by troublesome itching, skin lesions and eye manifestations. Since 1992, approximately 9,000 immigrants have arrived in Israel from the Kuwara province of northwest Ethiopia where the prevalence of onchocerciasis is particularly high. OBJECTIVES To determine whether onchocer...

BACKGROUND An estimated 25 million people are currently infected with onchocerciasis (a parasitic infection caused by the filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus and transmitted by Simulium vectors), and 99% of these are in sub-Saharan Africa. The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control closed in December 2015 and the World Health Organization has established a new structure, the Expanded Sp...

It was not until early 1990s that, when the Imaramagambo focus of southwest Uganda was mapped, mass treatment with a single annual dose of ivermectin for onchocerciaisis control commenced. However, comprehensive investigations on its transmission were launched after a nationwide policy for onchocerciasis elimination in 2007. Entomological surveys throughout the focus from 2007 to 2015 have yiel...

A histopathological study of ventral midline skin from midwestern U.S. horses with and without onchocerciasis due to Onchocerca cervicalis found perivascular mononuclear dermatitis as the most consistent difference between the two groups. Seasonal variation in parasite numbers or cellular influxes was not observed. Eosinophilic dermatitis was observed in horses with onchocerciasis and dermatiti...

BACKGROUND In most endemic parts of the world, onchocerciasis (river blindness) control relies, or will soon rely, exclusively on mass treatment with the microfilaricide ivermectin. Worldwide eradication of the parasite by means of this drug is unlikely. Macrofilaricidal drugs are currently being developed for human use. METHODS We used ONCHOSIM, a microsimulation mathematical model of the dy...

The impact of a school health club on adult perception of onchocerciasis and compliance with ivermectin was evaluated in an onchocerciasis-endemic community in southeastern Nigeria. Venous blood was collected from each of 26, 32 and 124 randomly selected subjects during ivermectin distribution programmes in 1995 1996 and 1997 respectively. Ivermectin concentrations were measured in the samples....

INTRODUCTION Worldwide, there are an estimated 50 million people affected by epilepsy. Its aetiology is manifold, and parasitic infections play an important role, specifically onchocerciasis. In onchocerciasis endemic areas, a distinctive form of epilepsy has been described as nodding syndrome, affecting children and causing nodding seizures, mental retardation and debilitating physical develop...

In Burkina Faso, onchocerciasis was no longer a public health problem when the WHO Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa closed at end 2002. However, epidemiological surveillance carried out from November 2010 to February of 2011, showed recrudescence infection Cascades Region. This finding made time ivermectin, drug recommended for treatment both and lymphatic filariasis, had been di...

BACKGROUND In Latin America, there are 13 geographically isolated endemic foci distributed among Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Ecuador. The communities of the three endemic foci found within Mexico have been receiving ivermectin treatment since 1989. In this study, we predicted the trend of occurrence of cases in Mexico by applying time series analysis to monthly onchocerci...