Projects

BackgroundEpidemiological evidence suggests a strong association between onchocerciasis and epilepsy. A recent cohort study investigating the temporality of this association reported an increased risk to develop epilepsy following childhood infection with Onchocerca volvulus, with a strong dependence on the initial parasite load. Communities with high transmission of onchocerciasis are often confronted with a high burden of debilitating seizure ...

Objectives 1. Evaluate Onchocerciasis RDTs under development. 2. Collect, analyse and store blood samples from individuals in onchocerciasis endemic areas. Activities Onchocerciasis results in severe itching, blindness and poor socioeconomic development. It has been targeted for elimination by 2030 by the WHO. Current diagnostics for onchocerciasis, including the skin-snipping microscopy, Ov16 ELISA and Ov16 RDT, are limited in their ...

Nodding syndrome (NS) is a form of epilepsy, characterized by head-nodding, often associated with severe intellectual disability, psychiatric problems, and early death. Initially, NS was reported only in onchocerciasis-endemic regions in Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan. Until recently, the cause of the syndrome was unknown. Therefore, no strategy for prevention and cure was possible. Our ERC project (NSETHIO) discovered that NS is only one of ...

Recently, the consortium involved in this project collected strong clinical and epidemiological evidence that nodding syndrome is one of the clinical presentations of onchocerciasis (river blindness)-associated epilepsy (OAE) and that this form of epilepsy is preventable by strengthening onchocerciasis elimination programs. Despite this evidence there is still little awareness about the important public health problem caused by OAE and a ...

Despite the use of ivermectin (IVM) once annually for control of onchocerciasis (oncho) (= river blindness) in Mahenge Tanzania, the prevalence of oncho and epilepsy remains high. There is increasing evidence that epilepsy is a complication of oncho and that treatment of oncho can not only eliminate blindness but also reduce epilepsy. Our proposed project aims to: 1) strengthen the multi-disciplinary research capacity for the prevention of oncho ...

Accumulating evidence suggests that onchocerciasis could trigger epilepsy. Indeed, after an introduction of bi-annual community-based treatment with ivermectin and use of ground larviciding to control blackfly breeding sites in rivers in 2012 in northern Uganda, no new nodding syndrome cases have been reported and the number of persons developing other forms of epilepsy also decreased. In Western Uganda onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE) ...

Onchocerciasis, caused by the parasite Onchocerca volvulus, is still endemic in Cameroon despite long-term annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI). Low CDTI coverage and frequency (once a year) resulted in a high prevalence of onchocerciasis-associated morbidity (skin, eye, and neurological disease). Children infected with O. volvulus between the ages of 5-12 years are at risk of developing onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy. ...

Nodding syndrome (NS) is a neurological, incurable syndrome, currently affecting mainly children between 5 and 15 years of age in South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. Since 1950, when NS was first described, its cause has remained a mystery. NS is characterized by head-nodding (an atonic form of epilepsy), often followed by clonic - tonic seizures, developmental retardation and faltering growth. In the affected regions, NS is a major public health ...

There is growing epidemiological evidence that onchocerciasis (river blindness) can cause epilepsy (onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy, OAE), a major unrecognized public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the pathophysiological mechanism remains unknown. Neither the Onchocerca volvulus, nor its endosymbiont Wolbachia, appear to be able to pass the blood brain barrier (BBB). Annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI), ...

Onchocerciasis, caused by the parasite Onchocerca volvulus, is still endemic in Cameroon despite long-term annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin (CDTI). Low CDTI coverage and frequency (once a year) resulted in a high prevalence of onchocerciasis-associated morbidity (skin, eye, and neurological disease). Children infected with O. volvulus between the ages of 5-12 years are at risk of developing onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy. ...