title: [I couldn't believe my own eyes! (author's transl)].
abstract: The author reports his self observation of onchocerciasis contracted in february 1978 on the Sue River as he was launching a WHO Trypanosomiasis Control Project in the Southern Sudan. After a prepatent period of nearly three years, the first symptom to appear was the observation of a mobile microfilaria moving in the field of vision of the patient's right eye. This unusual clinical warning led to a routine diagnosis and treatment with diethylcarbamazine. The author then offers three comments on his case story: 1. Patients should be listened to, even if their complains appear queer and unorthodox according to text books descriptions. 2. Many if not most of chronic tropical diseases present themselves with a protracted and symptomless incubation period. People living in rural areas, usually short of medical facilities, should not be blamed for a so called irresponsability for their late reporting to a doctor or a public health worker. 3. An ailing epidemiologist finds some sort of solace in knowing where, when and how he has been trapped.
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004049:Diethylcarbamazine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009855:Onchocerciasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D004049:Diethylcarbamazine
vernacular_title: Je n'en croyais pas mes yeux.