The prevalence of onchocerciasis in Africa and Yemen, 2000-2018: a geospatial analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Onchocerciasis is a disease caused by infection with Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to humans via the bite of several species of black fly, and is responsible for permanent blindness or vision loss, as well as severe skin disease. Predominantly endemic in parts of Africa and Yemen, preventive chemotherapy with mass drug administration of ivermectin is the primary intervention recommended for the elimination of its transmission.

Methods

A dataset of 18,116 geo-referenced prevalence survey datapoints was used to model annual 2000-2018 infection prevalence in Africa and Yemen. Using Bayesian model-based geostatistics, we generated spatially continuous estimates of all-age 2000-2018 onchocerciasis infection prevalence at the 5 × 5-km resolution as well as a

SUBMITTER: Schmidt CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9449300 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature