ONCHOCERCA-OCHENGI - MIMIC, MODEL OR MODULATOR OF ONCHOCERCA-VOLVULUS

The cattle parasite, Onchocerca ochengi, is widely distributed in West Africa. Significantly, Simulium damnosum, the vector of the important human parasite, O. volvulus, the cause of river blindness, also appears to be the vector of O. ochengi. For epidemiological reasons it is therefore vital to be able to distinguish the infective larvae of these filariae. Here, Sandy Trees also describes other features of the cattle parasite that make it of significance to investigations of human filariases.