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Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz
ISSN: 1678-8060
EISSN: 1678-8060
Vol. 102, No. 2, 2007, pp. 197-202
Bioline Code: oc07034
Full paper language: English
Document type: Research Article
Document available free of charge

Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Vol. 102, No. 2, 2007, pp. 197-202

 en Detection of Onchocerca volvulus (Nematoda: Onchocercidae) infection in vectors from Amazonian Brazil following mass Mectizan™ distribution
Marchon-Silva, Verônica; Caër, Julien Charles; Post, Rory James; Maia-Herzog, Marilza & Fernandes, Octavio

Abstract

Detection of Onchocerca volvulus in Simulium populations is of primary importance in the assessment of the effectiveness of onchocerciasis control programs. In Brazil, the main focus of onchocerciasis is in the Amazon region, in a Yanomami reserve. The main onchocerciasis control strategy in Brazil is the semi-annually mass distribution of the microfilaricide ivermectin. In accordance with the control strategy for the disease, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was applied in pools of simuliids from the area to detect the helminth infection in the vectors, as recommended by the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas and the World Health Organization. Systematic sampling was performed monthly from September 1998 to October 1999, and a total of 4942 blackflies were collected from two sites (2576 from Balawaú and 2366 from Toototobi). The molecular methodology was found to be highly sensitive and specific for the detection of infected and/or infective blackflies in pools of 50 blackflies. The results from the material collected under field conditions showed that after the sixth cycle of distribution of ivermectin, the prevalence of infected blackflies with O. volvulus had decreased from 8.6 to 0.3% in Balawaú and from 4 to 0.1% in Toototobi.

Keywords
Simulium - Onchocerca volvulus - polymerase chain reaction - onchocerciasis - ivermectin - Brazil

 
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