The 'ugly' flying blacks

RIVER BLINDNESS

I have most recently been struck by another grim reality where you can be made permanently blind, yes, physically I mean, by a particular insect called river black flies.

Strangely, though, these black flies do not live among us or the society with decent standard of life. Instead, these Onchocerciacis parasites appear along the levee of swiftly flowing rivers inflicting their horrific infection to the detriment of the already poor and underdeveloped peoples in Central and West Africa. It is thus named 'river blindness'.

As with other mosquitos, these swarms of flies do bite human. The difference is they aren't exactly after your blood. If you get bitten, they form colonies and live under your skins throughout your body for up to 18 years. They would then grow into worms and when they die cause grotesque inflammation, intense itching (to the point of 'unbearable'), agonising pain, and finally lost of sight since the worms' attack lead to a strong immune system that can destroy nearby tissue such as your eyes.

It was reported that about 18 million people are currently infected with this parasite and approximately 300,000 have been permanently blinded. To make matters worse this blindness cannot be reversed.

One good thing amid all these bad things is that such needless suffering is easily avoidable with an effective defence in the form of Mectizan tablets. When taken by adult or children, it can provide complete protection from this deadly infection for a whole year.

The thing is that there needs to be constant huge operations covering health workers reaching the affected areas hashing out the details of this medication, wide distribution of Mectizan to the remote communities as well as educating and training of the farmers and villagers in this unfortunate continent.

One second good thing these days is that for every single gold coin we share with these vulnerable people, the Australian government will match it by THREE dollars (making your $1 to be $4) towards this approved project through the Matching Grant Fund. A recommended AUD38 on our part (to be turned fourfold into $152) by CBM (Christian Blind Mission) Australia will go quite as far as ensuring 461 villagers receive enough tablets for bulwark against fatality right under their nose on a day-to-day basis. (Emil Jayaputra - 07 May 09)