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| Scientists Discuss Oncho Treatment |
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| Posted on: 2007-Feb-07 GNA |
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Scientists from Africa and Europe met in Accra on Monday to discuss alternative treatment options of onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness.
The meeting on the theme: "Sustainable control of onchocerciasis today and tomorrow," took place against the backdrop of the unsustainability of Ivermectin in onchocerciasis therapy which has to go on for 10 to 20 years.
The World Health Organisation estimates that about 20 million people are infected with onchocerciasis and approximately 500,000 have visual impairments, 270,000 of whom are blind globally. In Ghana 230,000 people are estimated to be infected.
In her opening statement, Dr Gladys Ashietey, Deputy Minister of Health who chaired the meeting said river blindness has grave socio-economic impact on the afflicted people as well as the country as a whole.
She said for instance owing to the fear of blindness, there was depopulation of the fertile river valley of some places in the northern part of the country, leading to economic losses to the affected people and the state.
Dr Ashietey indicated that one of the measures taken was the Onchocerciasis Control Programme which involved the spraying of the river basin of the Volta River in the northern part of Ghana to control the vectors, the black flies.
She said the programme was very successful, leading to repopulation of the deserted areas with increase in food production from these areas. This notwithstanding the deputy minister said the country was being confronted with many challenges in controlling the disease, as the drug of choice, Ivermectin currently being used, does not have a significant effect on the adult worms.
She expressed the hope that the scientists would come up with a drug that has a meaningful effect on the adult worms in order to reduce duration of the mass treatment.
She commended the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research and their collaborators-Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany, for coming up with Doxycycline, to cause sterility of filarial adult worms for treatment of river blindness.
Dr Ashietey stated, however, that a drug capable of killing the adult worm and can as well be used for mass treatment in endemic areas was urgently needed for the control of the disease and pledged government’s support to find a solution to the problem.
Professor Achim Hoerauf, Director of the Institute of Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology of the University Clinic of Bonn, Germany said Doxycycline is known to act against bacteria, but the worms harbour in their bodies little bacteria that are ‘servants’ to the worms.
"All this makes it important to find additional tools to improve the performance of Ivermectin mass treatment," he said.
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