Paper II
2024 December (Supplementary) (2019 Scheme) · 100 marks · 180 min

Question

River blindness is caused by

  • a) Brugia malayi
  • b) Oncocerca volvulus
  • c) Loa loa
  • d) Mansonella species
Qxiv1 marksMCQs

Answer

- [x] b) Onchocerca volvulus

Onchocerca volvulus causes onchocerciasis (river blindness), transmitted by the bite of the blackfly (Simulium species), which breeds in fast-flowing rivers (hence the name); chronic infection with microfilariae migrating to the eye causes progressive visual impairment and blindness. Brugia malayi and Mansonella species cause other forms of filariasis (lymphatic filariasis and mansonellosis respectively, not primarily ocular disease); Loa loa causes loiasis (with the classical “Calabar swelling” and eye-worm migration across the conjunctiva, but is not the cause of “river blindness” specifically).

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