Onchocerciasis News and Research

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Onchocerciasis is a parasitic disease caused by the filarial worm Onchocerca volvulus. It is transmitted through the bites of infected blackflies of Simulium species, which carry immature larval forms of the parasite from human to human. In the human body, the larvae form nodules in the subcutaneous tissue, where they mature to adult worms. After mating, the female adult worm can release up to 1000 microfilariae a day. These move through the body, and when they die they cause a variety of conditions, including blindness, skin rashes, lesions, intense itching and skin depigmentation. Onchocerciasis is endemic in more than 25 nations located in a broad band across the central part of Africa. Small endemic foci are also present in the Arabian Peninsula (Yemen) and in the Americas (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, southern Mexico, and Venezuela).

Blackflies infected with Onchocerca volvulus parasite may spread nodding syndrome

Despite decades of research, scientists have yet to pinpoint the exact cause of nodding syndrome (NS), a disabling disease affecting African children. A new report suggests that blackflies infected with the parasite Onchocerca volvulus may be capable of passing on a secondary pathogen that is to blame for the spread of the disease. New research is presented in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

3 Oct 2014

Celgene Global Health, DNDi expand partnership to identify new drug candidates for NTDs

Celgene Global Health, a division of Celgene Corporation, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative strengthen their collaboration with a four-year Research Collaboration Agreement to identify and optimize new drug candidates for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

24 Sep 2014

Researchers developing new medication to tackle river blindness and elephantiasis

Researchers are developing new drug treatments to tackle river blindness and elephantiasis, which affect up to 150 million people across the world.

24 Mar 2014

GHIT Fund announces grants to speed up innovative drug development for neglected diseases

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, a new public health partnership that is bringing Japanese know-how and investment to the global fight against infectious diseases, today announced three grants worth a total of US$6.8 million to speed the development of innovative drugs for some of the world’s most neglected diseases—schistosomiasis, Chagas disease and parasitic roundworms.

20 Mar 2014

LSTM and University of Liverpool receive GHIT Fund to target lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) together with colleagues at the Department of Chemistry (University of Liverpool (UoL)) and Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai are pleased to announce that they have been awarded a Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund to develop new drugs to target lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.

20 Mar 2014

Study finds persistent deficiency in new therapeutics for neglected diseases

In a study published today in the open-access journal The Lancet Global Health, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and other researchers report a persistent deficiency in truly new therapeutics for neglected diseases, despite nominal progress and an acceleration in research and development efforts. This continued 'fatal imbalance' in medical R&D points to the urgent need to develop and deliver groundbreaking new treatments for the world's poorest and most neglected patients.

25 Oct 2013

LSTM professor awarded The Manson Medal for outstanding contribution in field of tropical medicine

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) is delighted that Emeritus Professor and Senior Professional Fellow, David Molyneux, has been awarded The Manson Medal, the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene's highest mark of distinction.

21 Sep 2013

DFID awards 5-year grant to DNDi to advance research and development for neglected diseases

The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has announced its renewed support to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), allocating a total of - 30 million (- 35 million) over the coming five years (2013-2018) to DNDi's Research & Development (R&D) portfolio to fight neglected diseases.

22 Aug 2013

Human filariasis research: an interview with Professor Mark Taylor, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Filariasis refers to a group of diseases caused by parasitic worms, which are transmitted by blood feeding insects. Two species infect the lymphatic and blood systems causing lymphatic filariasis, which in some people can lead to gross swelling of the limbs and 'elephantiasis'.

18 Jul 2013

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine receives US$ 10 million to continue research against human filariasis

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has received US$ 10 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to continue their breakthrough drug discovery and development research against human filariasis - parasitic worm infections which cause river blindness and elephantiasis, some of the world’s most debilitating diseases affecting up to 150 million people in 83 countries throughout the tropics.

1 Jul 2013

Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute receives grant for global health and development research project

The Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute of the New York Blood Center announced today that it is a Grand Challenges Explorations winner, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

22 May 2013

Anacor signs research agreement to discover drug candidates to treat neglected diseases

Anacor Pharmaceuticals today announced that it has signed a research agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (the Gates Foundation) to discover drug candidates intended to treat two filarial worm diseases (onchocerciasis, or river blindness, and lymphatic filariasis, commonly known as elephantiasis) and tuberculosis.

9 Apr 2013

TSRI receives fund to develop new field test for Onchocerciasis

Philanthropist, businessman and community leader John Moores has given The Scripps Research Institute approximately $2 million to fund the development of a new field test for Onchocerciasis, or river blindness, a parasitic infection that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, Latin America and other tropical regions.

21 Mar 2013

New Pope will need to consider burden of NTDs

"Almost certainly, in its deliberations [to select a new Pope,] the conclave of cardinals will consider a number of difficult and well-publicized problems now facing the Catholic Church," Peter Hotez, co-editor in chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, writes in the journal's "Speaking of Medicine" blog.

14 Mar 2013

Disease eradication efforts set sights on polio, Guinea worm

"It's not a race, exactly, but there's an intriguing uncertainty about whether a former U.S. president or a software magnate will cause the next deliberate extinction of a species in the wild. Will Jimmy Carter eradicate Guinea worm before Bill Gates eradicates polio?" Wall Street Journal commentator Matt Ridley asks in his "Mind & Matter" column.

13 Feb 2013

Head-scratching persists despite nodding syndrome study

Nodding syndrome is an epileptic disorder, with telltale nodding episodes caused by atonic seizures, concludes a pioneering study of the mysterious neurologic illness that has been reported in only three African countries.

17 Jan 2013

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases

WHO reports unprecedented progress against 17 neglected tropical diseases, thanks to a new global strategy, a regular supply of quality assured, cost-effective medicines and support from global partners.

17 Jan 2013

NEJM examines global disease eradication efforts

"Since the last case of naturally occurring smallpox, in 1977, there have been three major international conferences devoted to the concept of disease eradication," an article in the New England Journal of Medicine reports and includes "a brief review of five diseases selected for eradication or elimination that illustrate the potential benefits of such efforts and some of the challenges they pose."

9 Jan 2013

Guardian examines challenges of eliminating river blindness in Africa

The Guardian's "Global Development Professionals Network" blog "reports on the challenges of eliminating river blindness from Africa by 2025."

18 Dec 2012

Recognizing pharmaceutical philanthropy's role in fighting NTDs

"In October 1987, Roy Vagelos, then the chief executive of pharmaceutical company Merck, launched the largest pharmaco-philanthropic venture ever," William Foege, an epidemiologist and former director of the CDC, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece highlighting the company's efforts to combat onchocerciasis in the developing world through the free distribution of its drug Mectizan.

27 Nov 2012