title: Onchocerciasis in Ecuador: prevalence of infection on the Ecuador-Colombia border in the Province of Esmeraldas.
abstract: The prevalence of onchocerciasis infection was determined in communities on 7 rivers located in the northern area of the canton San Lorenzo, province of Esmeraldas. Diagnosis of the infection was obtained by skin biopsies and recombinant-antigen based-serology. No evidence of infection was detected in 9 communities studied along the Rio Mataje, which forms the frontier between Ecuador and Colombia, nor in 10 adjacent communities located on 5 interior rivers. Evidence for Onchocerca volvulus infection was found in 4 communities on the Rio Tululvi with the following prevalence: La Boca (3.5% by biopsy and 3.9% by serology), Guayabal (9.1% by both biopsy and serology), La Ceiva (51.5% by biopsy and 53% by serology), and Salidero (4% by biopsy and 7.7% by serology). A few individuals in these communities were seropositive for O. volvulus in the absence of detectable dermal microfilariae: these might harbor very light or prepatent infections. No clinical disease attributable to onchocerciasis was found. The infected communities will be included in the ivermectin-based National Control Program for the disease, with no evidence of the infection having extended north of the Ecuadorian-colombian border.
authors.affiliation: National Onchocerciasis Control Program, Hospital Vozandes, Quito, Ecuador.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Guderian
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anselmi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Espinel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sandoval
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rivadeneira
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Guderian
mesh_terms: D003105:Colombia / Q000453:epidemiology; D004484:Ecuador / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D009855:Onchocerciasis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence