Onchocerciasis

Excerpt

Onchocerciasis, also known as the African river blindness, is the second most important cause of infectious blindness worldwide after trachoma.

It is caused by the filarial nematode, Onchocerca volvulus, and transmitted by repeated bites of the vector, female black fly of the genus Simulium damnosum. The vector breeds in fast-flowing and oxygen-rich rivers in affected areas with transmission and disease prevalence usually stretching along these river basins and thereby the name river blindness. Aside from blindness, onchocerciasis results in a troubling chronic dermatitis.