Hello everyone hope we are having a great time.
Growing up my parents lived in the urban city of abuja the federal capital territory as is costumery for most African families to go to the village for the holiday's especially the Christmas holidays, my fondest memories was when I was about 11 years old that was the very first time we travelled to the village and the very first time I met my grand parents.
Going to the village for the first time was such a thril for us kids my elder brother and I, we where so excited , we couldn't wait to meet our grandparents from our paternal side.
the journey was a 7 yours drive from abuja city, it was a wild road trip basically we had fun. got there very late in the night by that time everyones faces where not so clear, by morning we met officially and introductions where made.
Our grand parents where the loveliest and kindest set of people I had ever met, when we were being introduced I noticed something strange about my grandmas eyes I noticed an object moving in her eyes I was surprised and scared but I was too shy to ask her what that was eventually later that day I asked my mum about what I saw and she said my grandma was ill and she couldn't see very, my Dad had to take her to the nearest general hospital where she got medications and before we left for the city she got better and that was it just like that she could see again. well fast track much later in my adult life in medical school I finally got to learn what happened to grandma.
River Blindness also called onchocerciasis.
Parasite onchocerca Volcolus
vector Blackfly called similium spp.
River Blindness is one of the neglected tropical diseases, it is very common in northern and central nigeria.
Onchocerciasis – or “river blindness” – is a parasitic disease caused by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus transmitted by repeated bites of infected blackflies.
These blackflies breed along fast-flowing rivers and streams, close to remote villages located near fertile land where people rely on agriculture.
In the human body, the adult worms produce embryonic larvae (microfilariae) that migrate to the skin, eyes and other organs.
When a female blackfly bites an infected person during a blood meal, it also ingests microfilariae which develop further in the blackfly and are then transmitted to the next human host during subsequent bites
common presentation
1-changes in skin pigmentation.
2-dermal swelling.
3-papules.
4-lichenefication.
5-severe itch.
treatment
1-diethylcarbamazine, used for the treatment of the mature Parasite.
2- ivermectin used for the treatment of the microfilarial form.
3- eye surgery
Lessons I learnt
River blindness is a neglected tropical diseases that affects alot of people yearly and its one of the major causes of blindness in tropical and sub tropical Africa.
one of my major life's mission is to help rural communities like my Grandma's to get treatment for these type of diseases because I understand how much it affects there daily livelihood and the economic down turn it causes as it affects both the young and the old leading to complications such as loss of job and inability to function effectively in the society.
thank you all for the read I hope we learnt something new today.
For further studies here are some references we can use.
Causative organism and life cycle
https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/onchocerciasis/index.html
Public health https://www.who.int/health-topics/onchocerciasis#tab=tab_1
Presentation,symptoms,Management
https://www.britannica.com/science/onchocerciasis