Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, is a neglected tropical disease caused by the parasite worm Onchocerca volvulus. It is transmitted to humans through the bites of infected blackflies and primarily affects people living near fast-flowing rivers.
The contemporary era of technology and digitalization has taken the whole world to another level of success and stability. Whetted with technological advancements, numerous sectors of healthcare, medicine, education, business, and politics are rising above the sky.
However, even in the new age of expertise and skills, several regions of the world are still suffering especially in healthcare.
Due to several reasons of poor resources, unavailability of fresh food and water, and extremely underprivileged circumstances, poor states are still entrenched in the curse.
One of the most worrying and troublesome problems is Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Dengue, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, trachoma, and leishmaniasis, are neglected diseases as they usually make miserable the poor countries of the world.
The story does not terminate here with the poor states. They politically, socially, medically, and historically have not received as considerable attention as other sicknesses get.
Healthcare digitalization for such diseases is a distant thing, even though they did not get the proper consideration thus far.
Onchocerciasis also known as river blindness is one of the most neglected tropical diseases. The blackfly is the biggest cause of the spreading of the illness.
It is not properly aware, acknowledged, and comprehensive for the healthiness of people’s well-being. The neglect has made humans from poor tropical areas suffer extreme pain and detriments.
River blindness is instigated by the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus.
It is named river blindness for the reason that the blackfly that spreads the contamination lives and breeds adjacent to a fast-flowing water body like rivers and canals. The occurrence of the disease is generally near isolated rural villages.
The disease is not merely a different name and its consequences are horrible and unbearable. It results in visual diminishing and now and then complete blindness.
Furthermore, onchocerciasis gives deep roots to skin diseases like strong itching, outbreaks, or nodules under the skin. International onchocerciasis is the second infectious cause of blindness and is spread through repetitive bites by blackflies of the genus Simulium.
Millions of people are infected with the disease comprehensively. Some suffer severe skin diseases and others had vision loss. Over 99 percent of disease-ridden people live in 31 states of Africa and the rest live in Yemen and Latin America. Onchocerciasis is locally transmitted in and in foci in Yemen and South America.
The World Health Organization in the leading healthcare has substantiated the statistics, causes, spread, Free states from disease list, treatment, and numerous details regarding the disease.
Transmission of onchocerciasis or River Blindness
The bite of a contagious blackfly with parasites induces a microscopic worm larva named microfilariae. The growth of the larvae takes about one week or a little more in the fly to a phase of infectiousness in humans.
Some of the development of the larvae is completed in humans and some in flies. The rate of reproduction is alienated with the completion of the cycle of development.
More blackfly bites cause more intense human infection, skin conditions, and the number of worms in an individual. The long-lasting and severe infection causes Blindness.
The residential regions of speedily flowing water bodies with a Simulium blackfly group and isolated rural African agricultural communities are at huge risk of developing long-term diseases.
Conversely, the universal liability of onchocerciasis has been significantly abridged by the efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO). The forum has introduced extremely fruitful disease control and health benefit plans based on the regulation of the blackfly population.
Symptoms of River Blindness
Some disease-ridden people may be lacking obvious symptoms. However, those with appearing and obvious symptoms suffer skin worsening like rash or itching, numerous skin changes, nodules under the skin, and blindness in one eye or mostly both.
The different areas of a disease-ridden person’s skin are irritated with extreme outbreaks that permanently damage the layers of skin.
The supremely grave sign is lesions in the eye that turn into complete visual damage and blindness.
The symptoms are primarily related to skin and eye diseases because the parasite hit these areas the most.
Internally, Microfilariae are capable to convince strong inflammatory reactions, particularly on their death. They trigger characteristic immune reactions and produce the infection.
Hyperpigmentation, ancillary bacterial toxicities, damage to skin elasticity, and eye malfunction of seeing shades.
Treatment for onchocerciasis or River Blindness
The treatment is short-term. Treatments like ivermectin are accessible to destroy the larvae from the body of the infected person.
This will help in the prevention of the indications of the disease from the skin and eyes. ivermectin must be treated twice a year to eradicate the disease.
However, individual safety actions must be done to fight the spread of disease. Wear insect repellant on uncovered skin areas and long sleeves on fully covered dresses. The inoculation against the illness is not yet made.
According to the statistical analysis,
“Approximately 21 million persons were diseased with onchocerciasis in the year 2017 and millions of persons had the biggest loss of vision. Above 85 million persons live in endemic zones and 120 million persons are vulnerable to exposure to the disease. Though onchocerciasis has not triggered the highest death level, the total healthcare and international disability for the disease is 987,000. Infection decreases the resistance of infected person that affects a projected lessening in life expectancy.”
The disease originated in Africa and later the world see its export to other states.
The Termination of neglect is the termination of a disease. The world needs to neglect the disease even the rich state which is river blindness free.
To end river blindness and other neglected tropical diseases, humans as a whole need to spread awareness and education.
The endemic can turn into a pandemic and humans would find themselves back where they started. The disease is never the choice of people, but the underprivileged circumstances.
This is the reality that a single virus, parasite, worm, or bacteria is not a mere microorganism, but a curse that can deteriorate the family healthcare of people, communities, states, and the entire world just like the global healthcare pandemic of COVID-19. It is extremely difficult to tackle the bigger impact of River Blindness.
