Category Archives: Blindness

UK NGO sets their sights on river blindness

Blindness, NTDs, Onchocerciasis, , , , ,

Sightsavers, a UK-based NGO that addresses preventable blindness in the developing world and contributors to End the Neglect, is this year’s Financial Times (FT) seasonal appeal recipient. Sgithsavers will receive donations from British readers who contribute to the FT appeal, which will run from November 21 – mid-January. The UK government has also agreed to match individual donations made to the appeal. Click here for more information on the appeal. Below an excerpt on the current state of river blindness published in FT:

“The river in Nigeria’s poor, remote northern state of Zamfara has always played a central part in the 70-year-old’s life. He and his friends swam in it as boys “until our eyes were red”. It is a vital source of water for homes, livestock and crops in Mr Adamu’s village of Birninwaje, a fishing and farming community of 3,000 people, where he was for many years the traditional leader. It is also the source of his blindness. River blindness is endemic in these parts. The parasitical disease is named after the black flies that live near flowing waterways such as the Zamfara – and across sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and parts of the Arabian peninsula – and transmit one of the world’s leading causes of blindness.” Click here to read the full article. Also, check Jeremiah Norris’ (Director, Center for Science in Public Policy, Hudson Institute) Letter to the Editor in response to this piece.

 

Good News on River Blindness

Blindness, Latin America and the Caribbean, NTDs, Onchocerciasis, Vision, , , ,

By: Alanna Shaikh

Mexico, Colombia, and Guatemala are making huge progress against river blindness, aka onchocerciasis. Colombia has eliminated river blindness from within its borders, the first country in Latin America to do so. Mexico and Guatemala have broken the cycle of transmission, and they’re ready to stop mass drug administration next year.

Elimination is a pretty clear term. It means that the disease, while still present on our planet, is down to zero in one particular region; in this case, Colombia. But what does it mean to break the cycle of transmission? Well, onchocerciasis is a tiny parasitic worm[1] that has a pretty complicated life cycle, and one particular kind of fly is essential to the survival of the disease. Without those flies, the disease is not transmitted and dies out.

Photo Credit: The Carter Center

To break the cycle of transmission, you spray insecticide in the areas of fast moving rivers where the flies breed. No more flies, no more onchocerciasis. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it takes fourteen years of spraying to totally eliminate the reservoir of adult onchocerciasis worms and therefore make sure that the disease is gone. Once you’ve reached that point, it takes three more years of close monitoring to ensure that the disease really is gone. If there really are no cases in those three years, then, like Colombia, your country can be certified as having eliminated the disease. Continue reading →

Reading List 10/25/2011

Africa, Blindness, NTDs, reading list, Trachomadrug donation, , ,

Stay up to date on the latest NTD and global health news with our reading list! Today we’re reading about:

Pfizer Donates Zithromax, Promotes Eye Screening
AS part of its corporate social responsibility and efforts to forestall the onset of preventable eye disorders such glaucoma and trachoma which lead to blindness, Pfizer Specialities Nigeria recently held free eye screening services in Abuja, Ilorin, Kano, Osun, Akwa-Ibom and Delta States. A donation of Zithromax was officially handed to the Minister of Health in Abuja through the company’s International trachoma Initiative.

Global plan targets devastating eye disease
Blinding trachoma, one of the oldest known infectious eye diseases, may be facing its end game. The world’s leading cause of preventable blindness, trachoma brings extraordinary human suffering and economic devastation to tens of millions of people, mostly women and children in poorer countries. Yet as a result of development and targeted interventions it is now limited to an estimated 59 countries, often affecting the poorest populations in Africa and Asia.

5 districts declared filariasis disease free
Dhaka, Oct 25 (bdnews24.com) – The government has declared five districts free of the crippling mosquito-borne filariasis disease, for the first time in Bangladesh after years of mass drug administration. State minister for health Mozibur Rahman Fakir, on Tuesday, announced the name of the districts – Meherpur, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Patuakhali and Barguna – where the prevalence rate for the parasitic disease, also known as elephantiasis, was found to be below one percent.

A Fresh Insight into Transmission of Schistosomiasis: A Misleading Tale of Biomphalaria in Lake Victoria
Lake Victoria is a known hot-spot for Schistosoma mansoni, which utilises freshwater snails of the genus Biomphalaria as intermediate hosts. Different species of Biomphalaria are associated with varying parasite compatibility, affecting local transmission. It is thought that two species, B. choanomphala and B. sudanica, inhabit Lake Victoria; despite their biomedical importance, the taxonomy of these species has not been thoroughly examined.

Economics of drug discovery, development for neglected diseases
One of the major reasons why some of the major healthcare problems related to neglected diseases are not addressed by large pharma companies is the lack of large markets which are enablers for ensuring adequate returns on the investments made. For example with rising costs of drug discovery reaching over $ 1.5 billion for every new drug reaching the market, there are not many drugs for neglected diseases which could attract adequate markets in value terms.

Jemma Kidd Make Up Jumping Into the Fight Against Trachoma

Blindness, NTDs, Trachoma, , NTD,

By: Alanna Shaikh

Inspired by a trip to Ethiopia with ORBIS, cosmetics maven Jemma Kidd will donate £1.50 for every product purchased to the fight against trachoma. The money will go to ORBIS’s efforts to fight trachoma in Ethiopia, helping to prevent blindness.

Trachoma is not one of those NTDs that you can have for a long time and not know it, not at all. Trachoma is an extremely painful bacterial infection of the eyes. Here, I’ll quote the press release from Jemma Kidd, “Trachoma is a highly contagious bacterial infection of the eyecausing inflamed granulation on the inner surface of the lids. If left untreated, it can turn the eyelid inward, causing the eyelashes to scar the delicate cornea, resulting in agonising pain and permanent blindness.” It makes me cringe just thinking about it. Trachoma spreads rapidly from person to person, through contacts as brief as shaking hands. It’s especially common in kids under five, and can lead to blindness in adulthood.[1] Continue reading →