Tens of thousands infected by river blindness

Tens of thousands of people in over 700 villages in Kano State, northern Nigeria, may be infected by onchocerciasis (river blindness), The Guardian newspaper reported the state governor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, as saying at the weekend.

Speaking at the National Polio and River Blindness Eradication campaign in Tudun Wada local council, Kwankwaso, who was represented by his deputy, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, was quoted as saying that some 18 local governments had been affected and federal government efforts to eradicate the disease would have to be doubled.

Meanwhile, some 480,000 rural dwellers in Borno State, northeastern Nigeria, were reported recently as being infected with river blindness while another 40,000 had been affected in varying degrees. The coordinator of the state programme on river blindness, Alhaji Bukar Galadima, said that the federal and state governments were collaborating with the World Health Organisation, the African Programme on Onchocerciasis Control and Helen Keller International, to control the disease.

River blindness, which is transmitted by the black fly, causes inflammation of the skin and can lead to blindness.