Two Nigerian States (Plateau and Nasarawa) Have Eliminated Transmission of Human Onchocerciasis—A Report of Post-Ivermectin Mass Drug Administration Surveillance

Abstract

Transmission of Onchocerca volvulus (causing “river blindness”) was interrupted in two states of Nigeria (Plateau and Nasarawa) in 2017 in accordance with 2016 WHO guidelines. Ivermectin mass drug administration was halted in January 2018, and posttreatment surveillance activities were conducted over a 3-year period. Vector Simulium damnosum s.l. flies were collected during the 2019 (39 sites) and 2020 (42 sites) transmission seasons. Head pools were tested by polymerase chain reaction for the presence of third-stage O. volvulus larvae; 15,585 flies were all negative, demonstrating an infective rate of < 1/2,000 with 95% confidence. In 2021, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health declared the two-state area as having eliminated transmission. Plateau and Nasarawa states are the first of 30 endemic states in Nigeria to have met the WHO criteria for onchocerciasis elimination. Post-elimination surveillance will need to continue given the risk of reintroduction of transmission from neighboring states.