WHO celebrates triumph over river blindness
Ciment, J.
Bmj 319(7217): 1090
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 0959-8138 PMID: 10531090 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.319.7217.1090aDocument Number: 524186
This article reports the success of WHO in eliminating onchocerciasis or river blindness in most of West Africa. The onchocerciasis control program was able to save 100,000 people at immediate risk of contracting the disease and prevented the infection of about 12 million children. About 1.25 million onchocercal infections have been resolved by the program. Moreover, removal of the threat of the disease has allowed people to farm 25 million hectares of fertile land capable of feeding 17 million people annually. The land was previously abandoned due to black fly infestations, the transmission vector of the disease. The control program, which was started 25 years ago, had successfully eliminated the disease after a partnership between the UN agency and Merck, the company that developed ivermectin. Ivermectin is the first drug against river blindness that could be dispensed widely without fear of serious side effects.