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DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1273267
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York
Therapeutic Strategies for Nonendemic Onchocerciasis
Therapeutische Aspekte für die nicht endemische OnchozerkosePublication History
Publication Date:
11 April 2011 (online)

Introduction
Onchocerciasis is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world, representing a serious public health problem in African and Central American tropical areas. Classical management of onchocerciasis is the mass drug administration of an annual single dose of ivermectin that acts on microfilariae, but unfortunately doesn’t kill the adult worms. Recent data suggest that the depletion of the Wolbachia endosymbiont by doxycycline leads to long-lasting sterility of adult female worms, stopping the disease and can even reverse symptoms in individuals outside transmission areas [1].
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Yan Guex-Crosier, MD, FEBO
Head of uveitis clinic, Jules Gonin Eye Hospital, University of Lausanne
15 Av. de France
1004 Lausanne
Switzerland
Phone: ++ 41/21/6 26 85 95
Fax: ++ 41/21/6 26 81 22
Email: yan.guex@fa2.ch