Onchocerciasis

Onchocerciasis is an eye and skin disease caused by the parasite Onchocerca volvulus. It causes intense itching and skin rashes, swelling and ultimately severe dermatitis, and damage in the eye can lead to impaired vision and ultimately blindness.

TDR has a long history of research to support the control of this disease, dating back to the partnership with the Onchocerciasis Control Programme that eliminated the mosquito that transmitted the disease in West Africa. TDR research with the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) has demonstrated how community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI) is a sustainable and improved way of controlling the disease, and shows the possibility of eliminating transmission of the parasite.

Currently, research focuses on the identification of genetic markers of the parasite’s response to ivermectin and on evaluation of another compound, moxidectin, for its potential to accelerate elimination of onchocerciasis and expand the areas where elimination of transmission is feasible.

• More on onchocerciasis
• More on the history of TDR research on onchocerciasis
• A new drug for onchocerciasis
• Research profile of moxidectin at TDR
• African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC)
• The Mectizan Donation Program

Publications

• Community-directed interventions for major health problems in Africa
• Clinical trials of drugs for onchocerciasis: a randomised, single-ascending-dose, ivermectin-controlled, double-blind, safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetic, and efficacy study of orally administered moxidectin in subjects with onchocerca volvulus infection (Ghana)
• Study Evaluating The Co-Administration Of Moxidectin And Midazolam In Healthy Subjects
• Study Evaluating The Effect Of High-Fat Meal On Bioavailability And Pharmacokinetics Of Single Dose Of Moxidectin
• Excretion of moxidectin into breast milk and pharmacokinetics in healthy lactating women
• The antiparasitic moxidectin: safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics in humans
• Research for control: the onchocerciasis experience