West Africa conference on River Blindness opens in Ghan

A sub-Saharan African conference opened Monday in Ghana to look into ways of coordinating efforts between West African countries in the struggle against river blindness.

The one-week conference is being attended by health ministers and representatives from eight countries in the sub-region, as well as by affiliated international organizations.

World health reports show that prevalence of the disease, which was put at between 80 and 90 percent in 1974 has been drastically reduced to between zero and 50 percent at present. Onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, is caused by small worms that are passed on to people through the bite of the black fly.

Experts say the symptoms of the disease include intense body itching, development of leopard skin, painless nodules and poor vision.