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Onchocerciasis (river blindness) – World Health Organization (WHO)

October 22nd, 2024 2:40 am

Onchocerciasis is an eye and skin disease. Symptoms are caused by the microfilariae, which move around the human body in the subcutaneous tissue and induce intense inflammatory responses when they die. Infected people may show symptoms such as severe itching and various skin changes. Some infected people develop eye lesions which can lead to visual impairment and permanent blindness. In most cases, nodules under the skin form around the adult worms.

Onchocerciasis occurs mainly in tropical areas. More than 99% of infected people live in 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Cte dIvoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania.

Onchocerciasis is also transmitted in Brazil, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) and Yemen.

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Onchocerciasis (river blindness) - World Health Organization (WHO)

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