Onchocerca volvulus

Water is a necessary component of the blackflies environment because their larvae have an obligatory aquatic stage. The larvae attach to submerged rocks or vegetation where they develop into the adult form of the fly in approximately 8-10 days. The Sumulium fly lives for 4 weeks and can travel several hundred kilometers during its life course (Service et al., 2001). Flight distances of up to 79km over a period of 24 hours have been recorded by the female S. damnosum fly (Thompson, 1976). This allows onchocerciasis to be spread among many different villages. The Simulium adult female bites humans during the day, from dawn to dusk. If the bitten person is infected with onchocerciasis, O. volvulus microfilariae are ingested with the blood and then mature into the infected larvae state in one to three weeks. The infective larvae are then passed on to other people and mature into adult worms when the fly takes another blood meal (CDC, 2013). Thus, the Simulium blackfly acts an intermediate host for the parasite’s life…

River blindness, also known as Onchocerciasis or Robles disease is an illness caused by an infection through a parasitic warm known as onchocerca volvulus. Since its first diagnosis and naming, river blindness has become a serious problem to many individuals especially in parts of Africa, Yemen, and South America. In 2002, the World Health Organization (WHO) indicated that onchocerciasis had not caused a single death. However, the illness had become a global burden by causing disability adjusted…

Tropical areas of the world are heavily ravaged by the burdens of parasitic diseases. While malaria attracts much of the attention, there are still unreasonable burdens placed on communities by other filarial infections such as Onchocerciasis. Recently, there have been effective strategies used to eradicate Dracunculus medinensis from almost all endemic areas. Both Onchocerca and Dracunculus are nematodes they are radially symmetrical, have three tissue layers, and have a hydrostatic skeleton.…

protozoan parasite found worldwide. The disease initially presents as a deep-seated swelling that ulcerates and forms a necrotic base with blood and pus. A myriad of helminthic diseases can present with various dermatologic signs and symptoms such as skin nodules, migratory skin lesions, cysts and itching. Various cestode or tapeworm species (such as Taenia solium, Echinococcus granulosus and Spirometra spp.) may form cysts under the skin. Infestation with different nematode or roundworm…

Centre-sponsored Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas that leads to PAHO/WHO (Pan American Health Organization, World Health Organization’s Regional Office for the Americas) and also the MECTIZAN Donation Program. The PAHO/WHO appointed Colombia as the world’s first country in eliminating the river blindness transmission disease or also known as the Onchocerciasis by using the MECTIZAN (Ivermectin) as the cure. Onchocerciasis is a skin and eye disease. It is one of the major…