River Blindness: Expert Says 48m Nigerians At Risk Of Contracting Disease - Liberty TV/Radio - News - Voice For All! Vision For Alll!
Editor 4
July 20, 2019
An Ophthalmologist, Valentina Ideh, has raised the alarm thatabout 40 million Nigerians are at risk of contracting river blindness in thecountry.
Valentina, who lectures at the National Postgraduate MedicalCollege of Nigeria, stated this in Benin during the 20th Faculty Lecture withthe theme: Vision 2020 in Nigeria: Myth or Reality, said “Onchocerciasis isperhaps, the most studied filarial infection in Nigeria.
She said the provisional estimates had suggested that 7-10million Nigerians are infected with Onchocerca volvulus, approximately 40 millionare at risk of the disease.
The Ophthalmologist saidaccording to the Global Burden of Disease Study estimate in 2017, there were20.9 million prevalent Onchocerciasis volvulus infections worldwide; addingthat 14.6 million of the infected people had skin disease while 1.15 millionhad vision loss.
Dr. Ideh explained that the disease is a severe public health problem responsible for blindness and visual impairment, debilitating skin disease and relentless itching in millions of people.