ENTOMOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF ONCHOCERCIASIS STATUS IN EASTERN OBAN HILLS COMMUNITIES OF CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGERIA (AFTER 20 YEARS OF IVERMECTIN INTERVENTION)
*Dr. Cletus Inah Iboh, Dr. Oliver E. Effiom and Theophilus Effiong Akpe
ABSTRACT
Ivermectin (Mectizan) treatment programme commenced in Cross River State by the effort of United Nation International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and government in 1995. Since then, no information had been provided on Onchocerca volvulus infection of Simulium damnosum s.l. and onchocerciasis status in communities of Eastern Oban Hills. This necessitated an entomologic evaluation for 12 months (January to December 2015) at Ibe, Mankor and Kwa Falls to provide information on the infection rate and the interruption of onchocerciasis transmission after 20 years of annual community-directed treatment with ivermectin. Out of 590 female Simulium damnosum flies collected, 3486 (97.1%) flies were dissected and only 17 (0.5%) were infected. There was significant variation F0. (11, 22) (P = 001), in the relative fly abundance and diurnal biting pattern of parous flies at the three foci. The infectivity rates of parous flies recorded were very low: 0.20%, 0.60, and 0.59% at Ibe, Mankor and Kwa Falls respectively. There was a biting nuisance with a high annual biting rate (ABR) of 5894.8, 7124.6 and 8790.4 infective larvae per person per year at Ibe stream, Mankor stream and Kwa Falls respectively. The annual transmission potentials (ATPs) of 0.54, 18.4 and 18.3 recorded at Ibe, Mankor, and Kwa Falls respectively, are lower than the tolerable values provided by World Health Organization in 1995 for interruption of onchocerciasis. There was, therefore, suppression of Onchocerca volvulus transmission in the three foci.
Keywords: Simulium damnosum s.l. and onchocerciasis.
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