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Successful control of onchocerciasis with community‐based ivermectin distribution in the Rio Santiago focus in Ecuador by R. H. Guderian; M. Anselmi; M. Espinel; T. Mancero; G. Rivadeneira; R. Proan̄o; H. M. Calvopina; J. C. Vieira; P. J. Cooper is a Medicine article available to read on EtoBox.

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## Summary Onchocerciasis is a major blinding disease in equatorial Africa and Central and South America. Ivermectin is a safe and effective drug in the treatment of this disease and now forms the basis of disease control in most endemic areas. We report the findings of long‐term control of this infection in the Rio Santiago focus in Ecuador, between January 1990 and December 1996, using a strategy of giving ivermectin treatments biannually in hyperendemic communities and annually in mesoand hypoendemic communities. Ivermectin was administered by local health workers from each community. A high level of compliance to ivermectin was achieved, with 81.9% to 98.0% of those eligible receiving the drug at each treatment instance. The impact of ivermectin therapy was monitored using a cohort of 120 randomly selected infected individuals from 8 hyperendemic communities. The geometric mean microfilarial density of this group declined from 19.3 to 0 mf/mg over the 84‐month observation period. Ivermectin had a significant impact on anterior segment ocular disease, acute onchodermatitis and sowda. The rate of infection of blackflies declined from 1.1% in 1989–0.08% in 1996, which is below the

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Author

R. H. Guderian; M. Anselmi; M. Espinel; T. Mancero; G. Rivadeneira; R. Proan̄o; H. M. Calvopina; J. C. Vieira; P. J. Cooper

Publisher

John Wiley and Sons; Wiley (Blackwell Publishing); Blackwell Publishing Inc.; Wiley; ScienceOpen (ISSN 1360-2276)

Published

1997

Language

EN

Field

Medicine (Health Sciences)