In brief

Onchocerciasis eliminated from west Africa: Officials from the World Health Organization last week celebrated the elimination of onchocerciasis, or river blindness, as a public health threat in west Africa. The organisation's onchocerciasis control programme, which began in 1974, sprayed larvicide in the area to eliminate the disease's vector, the black fly, and distributed the anti-parasite drug ivermectin. More details …