Ogunrinade A, Boakye D, Merriweather A, Unnasch T R
Vice Chancellor's Office, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Wits 2050, South Africa.
J Infect Dis. 1999 Jun;179(6):1577-9. doi: 10.1086/314784.
Onchocerciasis remains an important public health problem throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria is the country whose population is most afflicted by onchocerciasis; however, little is known concerning the epidemiology of onchocerciasis in this country. Previous studies demonstrated that onchocerciasis in West Africa exists in two forms, which differ in their clinical and epidemiologic characteristics. This is believed to be due to the existence of 2 strains of Onchocerca volvulus, the causative agent of onchocerciasis. The O-150 polymerase chain reaction has been developed to differentiate these 2 strains, and this method has been used to map the distribution of the blinding and nonblinding strains of O. volvulus in Nigeria. The strain distribution is consistent with what is known concerning the ecology and epidemiology of onchocerciasis in this country. The results also suggest that migration may be affecting the historic distribution of the 2 strains of the parasite in Nigeria.
盘尾丝虫病在撒哈拉以南非洲的大部分地区仍然是一个重要的公共卫生问题。尼日利亚是受盘尾丝虫病影响最严重的国家；然而，关于该国盘尾丝虫病的流行病学情况却知之甚少。先前的研究表明，西非的盘尾丝虫病存在两种形式，其临床和流行病学特征有所不同。据信这是由于盘尾丝虫病的病原体——旋盘尾丝虫存在两种菌株。O - 150聚合酶链反应已被开发用于区分这两种菌株，该方法已被用于绘制尼日利亚旋盘尾丝虫致盲菌株和非致盲菌株的分布图。菌株分布与该国已知的盘尾丝虫病生态学和流行病学情况相符。结果还表明，人口迁移可能正在影响尼日利亚境内该寄生虫两种菌株的历史分布。
