Onchocerciasis: A Reality in Western Burkina Faso in 2016

Abstract

Sporadic cases of onchocerciasis continue to be registered after intensive campaigns under the aegis of the Onchocerchiasis Control program (OCP) that led to the control of the disease in Burkina Faso since 2010. It is now part of the neglected tropical diseases (NTDS). We report 3 recent confirmed cases at the Teaching Hospital of Bobo-Dioulasso, that are worrying in this context. There were two men and a woman, all coming from the west area of Burkina Faso, border with Ivory Coast and Ghana, and they have intermittent stays in a side and other of the two borders. The reason for consultation was a chronic pruritus evolving since 2 to 4 years. The examination noted dermatological damages combining in a variable way, painless and mobile nodules localized at the trochanters and chest seats, a leuco-melanodermia of the legs or polymorph chronic prurigo lesions, without nodules. The diagnosis of onchoceriasis was confirmed by presence of blood hyper-eosinophilia, the presence of many Onchocerca volvulus micofilariaes in the dermal juice and many adult worms in histology. Because that Onchocerciasis became quite rare in everyday practice, the statement of 3 hospital cases collected in 8 months is worrying because the vector and the parasite are still present in the affected areas, with a possible transmission. So, a new outbreak is to fear, especially with the internal and cross-border population mobility.