Onchocerciasis (River Blindness) Helen Xiao BIO.62 http://www.icp.ucl.ac.be/~opperd/parasites/images/worms.jpg

Most victims are in sub-Saharan Africa http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/onchocerciasis-map.png?ua=1

Infection leads to nodules Uganda http://www.ijqhw.net/index.php/qhw/article/viewFile/5918/8515/21360

Worms Avoids Immune System by hiding in nodules http://www.riverblindness.org/images/album-pics/onchocerciasis/image_06.jpg http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/modeling/images/TDR/palpationTDR98031026.jpg

Inflammation causes Itchy Rashes and an appearance of leopard skin http://www.who.int/apoc/media/skin.gif http://www.neglecteddiseases.gov/assets/photos/uganda/lg_uganda6.jpg

Infection leads clouding of the cornea Nigeria http://www.ijqhw.net/index.php/qhw/article/view/5918/8515

Blindness can occur if disease is not treated www.hxbenefit.com http://www.unep.org/yearbook/2004/images/emergingphoto5.jpg

River blindness is caused by: nematode Onchocerca volvulus web.stanford.edu http://blackflies.info/sites/blackflies.info/files/u13/volvulus1_reduced_3.jpg http://parasite.org.au/para-site/images/onchocerca-microfilariae.jpg

The nematode is transmitted by the bite of a FEMALE black fly https://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2014/schwaab_abbe/fly.jpg http://extension.entm.purdue.edu/publichealth/images/blackfly/blackfly.jpg

Life Cycle: http://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/images/onchocerciasis/O_volvulus_LifeCycle.gif

Life Cycle of Onchocerca volvulus goes through human and black fly stages http://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/images/onchocerciasis/O_volvulus_LifeCycle.gif

Parasitic nematodes have an endosymbiotic relationship with the wolbachia bacteria http://www.atlas.or.kr/donation/donation_files/demo23.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Wolbachia.png

Wolbachia bacteria causes the symptoms of river blindness http://cmr.asm.org/content/24/3/459/F2.large.jpg

Wolbachia bacteria causes the symptoms of river blindness http://cmr.asm.org/content/24/3/459/F2.large.jpg

To diagnose the disease, doctors look for larvae in Skin snips http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/onchocerciasis/health_professionals/index.html http://web.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2004/Onchocerciasis/skinsnip.png

Early treatments were ineffective and caused severe side effects Diethylcarbamazine (DEC)- Kills microfilariae Accelerates onchocercal blindness http://www.in.all.biz/img/in/catalog/58199.jpeg

Early treatments were ineffective and caused severe side effects Diethylcarbamazine (DEC)- Kills microfilariae Accelerates onchocercal blindness Suramin- Kills adult worms Highly Toxic http://www.in.all.biz/img/in/catalog/58199.jpeg http://sterlingmedicaladvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/suramin.jpg

Two new treatments are much more effective: Ivermectin Kills Larvae http://www.sightsaversusa.org/images/content/16890.jpg

Two new treatments are much more effective: Ivermectin Kills Larvae Doxycycline Kills Wolbachia bacteria and thus adult worms http://www.sightsaversusa.org/images/content/16890.jpg https://web.stanford.edu/class/humbio103/ParaSites2006/Onchocerciasis/IMAGES/doxy.jpg

Research shows Two drugs are better than one http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0140673600045815/1-s2.0-S0140673600045815-main.pdf?_tid=ef7059d4-6422-11e4-a47d-00000aacb360&acdnat=1415106373_bc145e148c47c38309d4e2778ebfe6ca

Wearing insect repellent and covering exposed skin can Prevent infection http://s252.photobucket.com/user/MicheleinPlaya/media/Blog%20Images%202013/LayeredClothes_zps0d9235d3.jpg.html http://nycpestpros.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Kinds-of-Insect-Repellent.jpg

End the Life Cycle of onchocerca volvulus with help from merk http://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/images/onchocerciasis/O_volvulus_LifeCycle.gif

End the Life Cycle of onchocerca volvulus with help from merk http://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/images/onchocerciasis/O_volvulus_LifeCycle.gif

37 million still infected but we are on the right track http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3131055/

Works Cited: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/onchocerciasis/ http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0140673600045815/1-s2.0-S0140673600045815-main.pdf?_tid=ef7059d4-6422-11e4-a47d-00000aacb360&acdnat=1415106373_bc145e148c47c38309d4e2778ebfe6ca http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Onchocerca_volvulus/ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/med.2610130103/asset/2610130103_ftp.pdf http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0002934305800105/1-s2.0-S0002934305800105-main.pdf?_tid=a3866b24-6307-11e4-b468-00000aacb35e&acdnat=1414984698_c629e2cb182d09ef914d8b60573e6c66 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673602094989/pdfft?md5=e32b8c57ad027d626edc6b5f82acf92f&pid=1-s2.0-S0140673602094989-main.pdf https://web.stanford.edu/class/humbio103/ParaSites2006/Onchocerciasis/Diagnosis.html http://tropej.oxfordjournals.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/content/45/3/128.full.pdf+html http://www.who.int/apoc/cdti/ivermectin/en/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3043740/ http://cmr.asm.org/content/24/3/459.figures-only