Call to consolidate achievements for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis control.

The Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine and the UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases held an international conference to review recent achievements in research and control of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis on 19-23 September 2001 in Hamburg, Germany.

Community-directed treatment of onchocerciasis with ivermectin in Takum, Nigeria.

A study to identify factors within the community that can ensure sustainable community-directed treatment (ComDT) with ivermectin compared the effectiveness of programme-designed (PD) and community-designed (CD) strategies in 37 villages in the Takum area of Nigeria. In a subset of PD villages, designated PD1, communities were asked to use the village heads as community-directed distributors (CDD), and the other communities (PD2) were asked to select female distributors, and both were instructed to use the house-to-house method of distribution. Community-designed communities, on the other hand, were asked to design their own approach.

Irreversible effects of ivermectin on adult parasites in onchocerciasis patients in the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa.

Ivermectin is an effective drug for the treatment of human onchocerciasis, a disease caused by the parasitic filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus. When humans are treated, the microfilariae normally found in the skin are rapidly and very nearly completely eliminated. Nonetheless, after a delay, microfilariae gradually reappear in the skin.