An international team of researchers led by Rodrigo Gonzalez of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala reports that the transmission of onchocerciasis or river blindness has been broken in Escuintla, Guatemala, one of the largest endemic areas in the Western Hemisphere to date to stop the transmission of the parasitic disease.
The findings, which detail the lack of ocular lesions and the absence of infections in school children as well as in the black fly which spreads the disease, are published March 31st in the open-access journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Escuintla is now the second of four Guatemalan areas to have stopped the transmission of river blindness.
"In a few short years-with continued hard work and increased political will-river blindness will never threaten the Americas again," said co-author Frank Richards, MD, of the Carter Center's River Blindness Program. "Ending transmission in Escuintla is an important victory in the campaign to eliminate this devastating disease."
To date eight of 13 endemic study areas in Latin America have ended the transmission of the disease, largely through health education and semiannual mass distribution of ivermectin-also known as Mectizan® donated by Merck & Co., Inc.