File:Onchocerca_volvulus_emerging_from_a_black_fly.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ1137321· pop 64· linked from 705 articles

onchocerciasis

Also known as river blindness, Infection by Onchocerca volvulus (disorder), Onchocerca volvulus infection, volvulosis, Infection by Onchocerca volvulus

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Key facts

Medical condition (new).name: Onchocerciasis
Medical condition (new).synonyms: River blindness, Robles disease
Medical condition (new).image: Onchocerca volvulus emerging from a black fly.jpg
Medical condition (new).caption: An adult black fly with the parasite Onchocerca volvulus coming out of its antenna, magnified 100×
Medical condition (new).field: Infectious disease
Medical condition (new).symptoms: Itching, bumps under the skin, blindness
Medical condition (new).causes: Onchocerca volvulus spread by a black fly
Medical condition (new).prevention: Avoiding bites (insect repellent, proper clothing)
Medical condition (new).medication: Ivermectin, doxycycline
Medical condition (new).frequency: 15.5 million (2015)

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

5,668 papers

Onchocerciasis.ReviewAdvances in parasitology · 1970Nelson GSDOI: 10.1016/s0065-308x(08)60254-7
Onchocerciasis.ReviewBritish medical bulletin · 1972Duke BODOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.bmb.a070896
Onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy: an update and future perspectives.ReviewTrends in parasitology · 2023Hadermann A, Amaral LJ, Van Cutsem G et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2022.11.010
Onchocerciasis.ReviewInternational ophthalmology · 1990Taylor HRDOI: 10.1007/BF00158317
Onchocerciasis.ReviewLancet (London, England) · 1998Burnham GDOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)12450-3
Onchocerciasis control in Ghana (1974-2016).ReviewParasites & vectors · 2021Biritwum NK, de Souza DK, Asiedu O et al.DOI: 10.1186/s13071-020-04507-2
[Onchocerciasis].ReviewMMW Fortschritte der Medizin · 2004Stingl P
Onchocerciasis: an overview.ReviewInternational ophthalmology clinics · 1990Thylefors BDOI: 10.1097/00004397-199030010-00010

via PubMed

Wikidata facts

Subclass of: disease
Image: Onchocerca volvulus emerging from a black fly.jpg

Show 9 more facts

symptoms and signs: lichenification
Commons category: Onchocerciasis
NCI Thesaurus ID: C34861
health specialty: tropical medicine
drug or therapy used for treatment: ivermectin
exact match: identifiers.org/doid/DOID:11678
has cause: Onchocerca volvulus
ICD-9-CM: 125.3
on focus list of Wikimedia project: WikiProject Medicine

Sources (7)

via Wikidata · CC0

~28 min read

Encyclopedic overview

20 sections

Contents

Cause
Life cycle
Signs and symptoms
Mazzotti reaction
Nodding disease
Diagnosis
Classification
Prevention
Elimination
Treatment
Antibiotics
Ivermectin
Moxidectin
Epidemiology
History
Society and culture
Research
See also
References
External links

Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, is a disease caused by infection with the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus. Symptoms include severe itching, bumps under the skin, and blindness. It is the second-most common cause of blindness due to infection, after trachoma.

The parasitic worm is spread by the bites of a black fly of the Simulium genus. Usually, many bites are required before infection occurs. These flies live near rivers, hence the common name of the disease, river blindness. Once inside a person, the worms create larvae that make their way out to the skin, where they can infect the next black fly that bites the person. There are a number of ways to make the diagnosis, including placing a biopsy of the skin in normal saline and watching for the larva to come out, looking in the eye for larvae, and looking within the bumps under the skin for adult worms.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “onchocerciasis” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.