Distribution and aetiology of blindness and visual impairment in mesoendemic onchocercal communities, Kaduna State, Nigeria. Kaduna Collaboration for Research on Onchocerciasis.

Abstract

43% of eyes in bilaterally blind patients were blind because of onchocerciasis. A further 11% were blind from optic atrophy much of which was probably onchocercal in origin. Glaucoma was the next most common cause of blindness in the bilaterally blind (11%). Only 6% of eyes were blind from cataract as the primary cause. In the visually impaired population cataract was the most common primary cause of impaired/blind eyes (31%), followed by onchocerciasis (19%). (BrJ7 Ophthalmol 1994; 78: 8-13)

Magnitude of trachoma and barriers to uptake of lid surgery in a rural community of northern Nigeria

“…8 a prevalence of 3.3% in an onchoendemic area of northern Nigeria. 11 The Nigerian National Program for the Prevention of Blindness (NPPB) extrapolated that the prevalence of blindness in Nigeria as a whole is 1.3%. 12 The prevalence of trichiasis among women older than 40 years, which was found to be 11.5% in this study, is far above the 1% level of trichiasis in women 40 years and over that constitutes the World Health Organization's definition of an area with trachoma of public health significance.…”

Uveitis in children

“…38 The female to male ratio was 1.5:1. The majority had bilateral uveitis (76.9%), and the cohort included 58.4% anterior uveitis, 20% intermediate uveitis, 13.8% posterior uveitis, and 7.6% diffuse uveitis. A specific cause was not identified in 36.8% of the children, including 15.3% with pars planitis.…”

“…Epidemiology of uveitis in children Uveitis accounts for 5-20% of legal blindness in both the United States 7,8 and Europe, [9][10][11][12] and perhaps as much as 25% of blindness in the developing world, [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] particularly in regions where onchocerciasis is endemic. 21 Population-based studies in the developed world have suggested that uveitis occurs with an overall incidence of approximately 20 per 100,000 in the population per year, resulting in a prevalence of about 200 per 100,000 in the population at large.…”

Intermediate Term (3-6 Years Post Surgery) Outcome of Keratoprosthesis in 5 Nigerian Eyes

“…This situation has consigned many Nigerians whose sight could have been corrected to schools for the blind or to living as beggars on the street. The authors of this report attempted to 8 address the situation in Nigeria by offering the keratoprosthesis procedure.…”