File:A young man exhibits total body emaciation (MIS 69-9768-6), National Museum of Health and Medicine - 5263652809.jpg

English: A young man exhibits total body emaciation (MIS 69-9768-6), National Museum of Health and Medicine

Description: A young man exhibits total body emaciation and dermatitis caused by onchocerciasis (river blindness).

Onchocerciasis is an eye and skin disease caused by a parasitic worm and transmitted by the bites of blackflies. The parasite will cause lesions and terrible itching of the skin and eyes. Lack of treatment or repeated exposure can cause blindness and disfiguring skin diseases. Onchocerciasis is known as “river blindness” because the blackflies that transmit it live and breed near fast-flowing bodies of water. The disease is most prevalent in Africa and South America and has been classified as a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) - diseases that cause substantial illness for more than one billion people globally, usually the very poor and especially children – by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Though emaciation can be one result of parasitic infection, it is more common as a secondary effect. When extremely high percentages of able-bodied adults are blind or exhibiting other symptoms, the productivity and efficiency of an agricultural community to support itself can become perilously poor. Or, when communities move away from rivers (and more fertile land) to escape the disease, the new, poorer land will produce fewer crops to consume and sell.

This image was used to illustrate a two-volume atlas titled, Pathology of Tropical and Extraordinary Diseases, Chapman H. Binford and Daniel H. Connor.

Date: unknown

Photo ID: MIS 69-9768-6

Source collection: OHA 233.05: Medical Illustration Service Library, Atlas of Tropical and Extraordinary Diseases Series

Repository: National Museum of Health and Medicine, Otis Historical Archives

Rights: No known restrictions upon publication, physical copy retained by National Museum of Health and Medicine. Publication and high resolution image requests should be directed to the NMHM (www.medicalmuseum.mil/)