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. 2022 Jan-Feb;119(1):55-59.

New Research Aims to Optimize Therapy Against Onchocerciasis

Augustine R Hong  1 , Nicholas O Opoku  2 , Gary J Weil  3 , Eric M Kanza  4 , Michael E Gyasi  5
Affiliations

New Research Aims to Optimize Therapy Against Onchocerciasis

Augustine R Hong et al. Mo Med. 2022 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Onchocerciasis is a parasitic disease that is the second most common cause of infectious blindness in the world, affecting 25 million people, mostly in sub-saharan Africa. Mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin has been the mainstay of a successful international effort to reduce the burden of vision loss. Despite improvements in infection rates and blindness through MDA with ivermectin, adult worms are not killed or permanently sterilized by this drug and can live for greater than 10 years. Therefore, new treatments for onchocerciasis are critical to accelerating the rate of elimination of this blinding disease. Here we discuss an ongoing study of a new treatment for onchocerciasis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure This work was supported by an unrestricted grant to the John F. Hardesty MD Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences from Research to Prevent Blindness. This study was funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1190749).

Figures

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Left: Study clinicians at the School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Hohoe, Ghana. Right: Clinical team members outside of School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Hohoe, Ghana.
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Performance of slit lamp examination.
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Color fundus photography (of left eye centered on the macula (m) of a participant with small yellowish drusen (d) and chorioretinal scars (crs) not affecting central vision. OCT scan shows normal retinal architecture and sparing of the fovea.
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See this image and copyright information in PMC

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