River Blindness Facts
In 2018 218 million people were in need of treatment for river blindness the majority of the burden being in africa according to the world health organization.
River blindness facts. It is transmitted through the bites of infected blackflies simulium spp that breed in fast flowing rivers and streams mostly in remote villages located near fertile land where people rely on agriculture. River blindness is diagnosed by identifying juvenile worms in skin snips. Persons with heavy infections will usually have one or more of the three conditions.
In patients with nodules in the skin the nodule can be surgically removed and examined for adult worms. Onchocerciasis is a parasitic disease caused by parasites nematode named onchocerca volvulus it is transmitted to humans by the bite blood meal of the female blackfly simulium the disease is also termed river blindness because the vector the blackfly is usually found breeding close to rapidly flowing streams and rivers and because the most devastating manifestation of the infection is. Infections in the eye can be diagnosed with a slit lamp examination of the front part of the eye where the larvae or the lesions they cause are visible.
Also called river blindness because the transmission is most intense in remote african rural agricultural villages located near rapidly flowing streams. Onchocerciasis or river blindness is a parasitic disease caused by the filarial worm onchocerca volvulus.
