01870nas a2200325   4500000000100000008004100001653001000042653001900052653003900071653002000110653001600130653001300146100001700159700001300176700001600189700001200205700001500217700001800232700001100250700001100261700001600272700001400288700001500302700001600317700001500333700001300348245009200361520107700453022001401530       2016                            d10aSudan10aonchocerciasis10aNeglected tropical diseases (NTDs)10aMass treatments10aElimination10aChildren1 aZarroug IM A1 aHashim K1 aElMubark WA1 aShumo Z1 aSalih KA M1 aElNojomi NA A1 aAwad H1 aAziz N1 aKatabarwa M1 aHassan HK1 aUnnasch TR1 aMackenzie C1 aRichards F1 aHigazi T00aThe first confirmed elimination of an onchocerciasis focus in Africa: Abu Hamed, Sudan.3 a<p>Mass treatment with ivermectin for onchocerciasis was stopped in 2012 in Abu Hamed, an isolated focus on the River Nile in northern Sudan. A 3-year posttreatment surveillance (PTS) ensued, at the end of which an evaluation was conducted in 2015 following the current World Health Organization guidelines for verification of onchocerciasis elimination. Vector black flies were collected from sentinel breeding sites and finger-prick bloodspots were collected from children ≤ 10 years of age resident in 35 communities within the focus. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening of 19,191 flies from four sites for the O-150 parasite-specific marker found no flies carrying Onchocerca volvulus larvae (0%, 95% upper confidence limit [UCL] = 0.16), and serological testing of 5,266 children identified only one Ov16 seropositive child (0.019%, 95% UCL = 0.074); whose skin snips were negative when tested by O-150 PCR assay. These results indicate that for the first time in Africa, onchocerciasis elimination has been verified after a successful PTS in Abu Hamed.</p>
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