Gates foundation funds UK University’s battle against river blindness

The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has been awarded $23 million by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to spearhead an international research programme fighting river blindness.

Adult Black Fly (Simulium yahense) with parasite (Onchocerca volvulus) – causitive agent of filariasis - emerging from the insect's antenna

The programme will look into the inflammatory disease filariasis that causes the condition. The disease is caused by a worm infection that is transmitted by mosquitoes and has become endemic in many Asian and African countries. By developing drugs that target the Wolbachia bacteria - which the worm needs to survive - the research aims to provide an entirely new method to control and treat river blindness and filariasis.

LSTM has established a global consortium of six academic and industrial partners, called the Anti-Wolbachia Consortium, to screen and develop new combinations of potential filariasis drugs.

Researcher Mark Taylor said: “Drug resistance is making current treatment programmes less effective in areas where the disease had virtually disappeared. Ivermectin is a fantastic drug, but as with any control approach, it is dangerous to rely on a single tool. Unless we come up with a new treatment, it could mean that the major source of blindness in Africa will become untreatable.” 

The funding is part of the Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF) one of the fastest growing public health programmes worldwide.