Parasites living in your eyes
Quick Links: Awal's Story facts about river blindness
River blindness (Onchocerciasis) is a disease caused by a parasitic worm.
The worm is transmitted by black flies which breed along fast flowing rivers in West and Central Africa and Latin America.
People living and working near these rivers are bitten countless times and infected with a worm that forms a nodule under the skin.
When it breeds, thousands of tiny ‘microfilariae’ – tiny worms - spread throughout the body eventually to the skin and the eyes.
As the microfilaria die, they cause itching so severe that people make special knives to scratch the skin and pull them out.
If people are not treated they face irreversible blindness.
CBM is a key player in the distribution of Mectizan, the drug which prevents river blindness.
Awal’s Story
Awal has been blind for four years because of this awful disease.
“I am itching all the time,” she says.
“I can feel living things moving in my eyes, and I am in so much pain.”
With a husband and four children dead to disease and war, Awal’s daughter-in-law and granddaughter care for her – leading her round with a stick.
But mainly, Awal just sits.
“All day I just sit under a tree. I have headaches. I have pain all over my body.”
Her face is etched with despair as she says, “I have no strength on my own.”
Awal’s suffering is horrific. Her blindness is tragic.
Sadly for Awal she had no access to treatment, the solution is too late, her blindness is irreversible. All we can do is ease her itching and her pain.
But for millions more people around the world just three little white tablets can stop this horror. Page Top
Facts about river blindness
- Worldwide, 125 million people are at risk of river blindness
- 18 million people are already infected, mostly in West and Central Africa with 500,000 permanently blinded by the disease
- River blindness is the world’s second leading infectious cause of blindness
It costs just 50 cents per person to provide the medication to prevent river blindness.
For more information about river blindness (Onchocerciasis) visit the World Health Organisation or Vision 2020