Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness ... as river blindness — and the fifth worldwide, according to WHO. The declaration came after a decades-long effort that included vector control ...

Niger has become the first African country to eliminate river blindness, a parasitic disease that is the second-leading cause of blindness in the world, the WHO said Thursday.

River blindness is spread to humans via the bite of a black fly, mainly found near rivers, that is infected with the parasitic worm. “The combination of medicine and vector control had ...