Mass Administration of Ivermectin in Areas Where Loa loa Is Endemic

Abstract

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine was shared in part by the discoverers of ivermectin.¹ Donated tablets of ivermectin have been distributed in Africa since 1988 through mass drug administration programs for onchocerciasis, or river blindness (caused by Onchocerca volvulus),² and since 2000 for lymphatic filariasis (caused by Wuchereria bancrofti).³ These vectorborne filarial parasites cause disabling and stigmatizing diseases, especially in impoverished populations. The complex lifecycles of these parasites include male and female adult worm stages, in which fertilized females in humans release microfilariae that can be ingested by simulium black flies from the skin, in the case of onchocerciasis, . .