Vaccine for Vision Scourge Nearing Completion

"The world's first vaccine for a disease that causes misery for millions in Africa could be tested within five years," notes Medical News Today. "Researchers have taken a major step towards developing a vaccine against river blindness, also known as onchocerciasis, which affects an estimated 17 million people throughout the world. More than 90 per cent of cases of river blindness - listed by The World Health Organization as a neglected tropical disease - occur in west and central Africa. River blindness is a caused by infection with the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus and is spread by blackflies that breed in rivers." Read more.