Right now, across west and central Africa, almost 18 million people are infected with a parasite known as Onchocerca volvulus which causes river blindness. Spread by black flies, river blindness can destroy the sight and hope of an entire village. Gone is their ability to work. Gone is the future they dreamed of for their children.

Thankfully, river blindness has a cure. Because the medicine needed to cure it is donated to cbm free of charge from Merck & Co.™, cbm only needs to pay the distribution costs – to get the sight-saving medicine into the hands of people at risk.

This allows cbm to use the money it would have used to buy Mectizan® to save the sight of 6 times as many people.

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1. An infected fly bites someone. La rvae from a worm known as Onchocerca volvulus migrate to the head of the fly, moving from the fly into the skin of the person the fly is biting.
   
   
2. The worms mature and form a nodule under the skin. This cluster of worms (both male and female) start producing microscopic worms known as microfilariae.
   
   
3. Someone goes blind for life. The tiny worms settle in the eye. The worms die. Their bodies become toxic and damage the optic nerve, making someone blind for life. To make things worse, as the worms die throughout the body, they also cause painful itching. The itch remains even after someone loses their sight.
   
   
4. A black fly bites an infected human. The microfilariae floating under the skin move into the new black fly and develop into larvae. When that fly bites another human, the terrible cycle starts again.

How Mectizan® Works

Mectizan® sterilizes the adult worms living in the human body. This stops them from producing the microfilariae that cause blindness. This also effectively keeps black flies from ingesting new microfilariae – breaking the cycle of river blindness infection/transmission.

An adult worm will continue to live under the skin for 10-15 years. In order to keep the worms from producing, Mectizan® must be taken at least once a year as long as the worms are alive.

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Impact on Communities

One community’s story

Abduallahi knows the terror of river blindness first-hand. He is leader of a village in Taraba state, Nigeria. “Everyone was infected” Abduallahi says, thinking back. “12 people had already gone blind... You saw people with nodules, people who were itching, scratching their bodies.”

The whole village – 2,700 people – was infected. Because the adults suffered terribly from the painful itching, they couldn’t work the land. Instead of going to school, the children were sent out to farm, fish and eke out a living for the village.

Thankfully, since then, Abduallahi and his village are being given Mectizan®. He sees the difference it’s making.

“The medication helped us! It reduced the itching – and those we feared would go blind still have their eyes. They’ve started going back to farming. Many children have gone back to school”. This village’s battle with river blindness isn’t without casualties. Abduallahi’s own mother-in-law, Kelladi, is blind because of the disease.

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Kelladi’s story...

“I’ve been blind for almost 15 years” Kelladi says, sitting outside her hut. “I remember the itching. All over my body and my head... Then I went blind.” Kelladi lost much of the life she had before. “Before I went blind, I would farm maize and make pottery to sell. When I went blind, I wasn’t happy with the world – I would not see again. I could not move about. I was just sitting like a stone.” Kelladi spends most of her days sitting inside her dark hut.

When she first went blind, the 2 oldest grandchildren would take turns leading Kelladi where she needed to go. They often had to miss school. Abduallahi, the children’s father, feels he has no other option. “I’m not happy seeing my mother blind like this. I have pity on my kids also… they would be doing other things – they would be going to school.”

Now the younger ones – the ones who don’t yet go to school – have taken over the responsibility of leading their grandma around. You can see that blindness doesn’t just affect one person. It affects whole families. It limits children’s futures. It could be, as it is for Kelladi and her grandkids, a matter of a child missing school to care for someone who is blind. Or worse – in areas where there is no Mectizan® distribution – a child could face a life of needless blindness and disabling pain.

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River Blindness Fact File

• An estimated 18 million people are infected with onchocerciasis – also known as river blindness. 137 million people live in areas where river blindness is endemic.
  
  
• 99% of river blindness is found in Africa. It can also be found in Guatemala, southern Mexico, some areas of Venezuela, small areas in Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, and in the Arabian Peninsula.
  
  
• Mectizan® – otherwise known as Ivermectin – is used to prevent river blindness and is donated to cbm free of charge by Merck & Co.™ In 2009, Merck & Co.™ will donate an estimated $36 million worth of Mectizan® to cbm. It costs cbm $6.3 million to distribute this sight-saving drug. Because the medication is free, cbm is able bring sight-saving care to
  6 times the people.
  
  
• cbm delivers treatment to 5 million people at risk of river blindness each year.
  
  
• To effectively treat river blindness, Mectizan® must be distributed annually for at least 10-15 years.

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Set 6 times as many people free from permanent blindness – GIVE NOW!