Finding the villages where ivermectin treatment for river blindness is safe to give, in areas where loiasis is also common
- Good it would do
- 4 / 5
- Can AI help
- 3 / 5
- How neglected
- 3 / 5
- Can we check it
- 3 / 5
Why it's stuck
Ivermectin is the main medicine for river blindness, but people who also carry very heavy loiasis infections can have serious reactions to it, so mass treatment is held back where the two diseases overlap. 8 percent of them in low-transmission areas that programs do not target.
What we'd try
Build village-level risk maps of very heavy loiasis infection from published pre-control surveys and satellite data on forest, land use and climate, with uncertainty for each village. Check against villages since screened person by person under test-and-not-treat.
What could stop us
Lancaster and Liverpool groups already publish geostatistical maps of where ivermectin is safe in loiasis areas, so the new part may be mostly done or depend on screening data the lab cannot get.
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