What is being done to treat the river blindness disease?
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved moxidectin as the first new treatment for river blindness in 20 years, adding new ammunition to the fight to eliminate this disabling disease.
How can we prevent river blindness?
Personal Protection: The best way to prevent river blindness is to avoid blackfly bites. This means wearing bug spray with DEET, as well as long sleeves and long pants treated with permethrin during the day when the flies are most likely to bite.
How do you test for river blindness?
Diagnosis. The gold standard test for the diagnosis of onchocerciasis remains the skin snip biopsy. The biopsy is performed using a sclerocorneal biopsy punch or by elevating a small cone of skin (3 mm in diameter) with a needle and shaving it off with a scalpel. This will result in the removal of around 2 mg of tissue …
What’s the best way to treat river blindness?
Treatment usually consists of ivermectin, a drug that can kill worm larvae in the body. It is taken in six month increments until the adults in the body have had time to die off. More recently, some doctors have also been treating river blindness with doxycycline, a drug that kills a bacteria key to the adult worms’ survival. ( Learn More)
What are the symptoms of river blindness in Africa?
Key facts. Onchocerciasis, commonly known as “river blindness”, is caused by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus. Symptoms include severe itching, disfiguring skin conditions, and visual impairment, including permanent blindness. More than 99% of infected people live in 31 African countries.
What kind of surgery is needed for African river blindness?
African River Blindness Treatment. These surgeries can include a corneal transplant (where the scarred cornea is replaced with a new healthy donor cornea); glaucoma surgeries to reduce the pressure in the eye; cataract removal (where the eye’s lens is removed and replaced with a new one); or retinal surgeries.
How is doxycycline used to treat river blindness?
As a result, doxycycline isn’t yet considered to be a standard treatment for the condition—but the research on it is promising. The most serious symptoms of river blindness are the result of repeated exposure to the parasites. This is why preventing future infections is an important part of treatment.