river blindness

noun

|Updated on: 29 Jun 2018

Definition of river blindness

: onchocerciasis

Recent Examples of river blindness from the Web

Fifteen years ago as much as half the population was infected with the worm that causes onchocerciasis, or river blindness (see map).

— The Economist, "How Sierra Leone is beating tropical diseases," 23 June 2018
Several years ago, Fletcher and his team had never heard of river blindness and knew very little about neglected tropical diseases in general.

— brian rinker, CNN, "New tech revolutionizes fight against ancient diseases in Africa, Asia," 17 Apr. 2018
The river blindness medication, ivermectin, kills these baby worms effectively.

— brian rinker, CNN, "New tech revolutionizes fight against ancient diseases in Africa, Asia," 17 Apr. 2018
Earlier studies showed that ivermectin, developed in the 1980s to fight parasites that cause river blindness and elephantitis, turns the blood of patients deadly to mosquitoes a short time after treatment, reported National Public Radio.

— don sweeney, sacbee, "A pill could make your blood poisonous to mosquitoes, research shows | The Sacramento Bee," 29 Mar. 2018
Cholera, lung cancer and river blindness no longer threaten us.

— jules julien, Smithsonian, "What Will Our Society Look Like When Artificial Intelligence Is Everywhere?," 21 Mar. 2018
In the 1980s, Merck developed a treatment for river blindness and opted to give it away.

— david gelles, The Seattle Times, "Merck CEO who stood up to Trump speaks out," 25 Feb. 2018
In the 1980s, Merck developed a treatment for river blindness, and opted to give it away.

— david gelles, New York Times, "The C.E.O. Who Stood Up to President Trump: Ken Frazier Speaks Out," 19 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'river blindness.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.