Cell phone-based microscope leads to possible strategy for treating river blindness

(NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) River blindness, or onchocerciasis, is a disease caused by a parasitic worm (Onchocerca volvulus) found primarily in Africa. Ivermectin is used to treat onchocerciasis. This treatment can be fatal when a person has high blood levels of another worm, Loa loa. In a paper published in NEJM, scientists describe how a cell phone-based videomicroscope can provide fast, effective testing for L. loa parasites, allowing these individuals to be p...