Onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy in Maridi, South Sudan: Modelling and exploring the impact of control measures against river blindness.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Onchocerciasis, also known as "river blindness", is caused by the bite of infected female blackflies (genus Simuliidae) that transmit the parasite Onchocerca volvulus. A high onchocerciasis microfarial load increases the risk to develop epilepsy in children between the ages of 3 and 18 years. In resource-limited settings in Africa where onchocerciasis has been poorly controlled, high numbers of onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE) are reported. We use mathematical modeling to predict the impact of onchocerciasis control strategies on the incidence and prevalence of OAE.

Methodology

We developed an OAE model within the well-established mathematical modelling framework ONCHOSIM. Using Latin-Hypercube Sampling (LHS), and grid search technique, we quantified trans

SUBMITTER: Bhattacharyya S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10249816 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature