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Evidence for Suppression of Onchocerca volvulus Transmission in the Oaxaca Focus in Mexico

Entomologic and serologic surveys were performed in four sentinel communities in the Oaxaca focus in southern Mexico to assess the level of transmission and exposure incidence to Onchocerca volvulus. All communities have been receiving ivermectin mass treatment twice per year since 1997. In one community, parasite DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction–enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 2004 in one pool of 50 vector heads of 170 such pools (8,500 flies) examined, which indicated an estimated transmission potential of 6.7 third-stage larvae/person/year. No evidence for transmission was found in the three other communities in 13,650 flies examined. All persons in a cohort consisting of 117 children in the four communities remained serologically negative for antibodies recognizing a cocktail of recombinant antigens over a four-year period from 2001 to 2004, which indicated an exposure incidence of 0%. Taken together, these data suggest that transmission has been suppressed in the four communities.

Received May 17, 2007. Accepted for publication October 9, 2007.

Acknowledgments: We thank the personnel of the Ministry of Health (Mexican Onchocerciasis Elimination Program: Miguel Lutzow-Steiner) for assistance with this project, the personnel of the Center for Biotechnological Genomics/Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN) (Aldo Segura-Cabrera, and Clara Pérez Aguilar) for assisting with the laboratory work, Olga Real-Najarro (Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León) for critically reading the manuscript, and the people from the four communities in the focus of Oaxaca who enthusiastically participated in this study.

Financial support: This study was supported by CONACYT-México (grant 43436-R), the Onchocerciasis Elimination Programme for the Americas, and the Centre for Biotechnological Genomics/IPN (grant SIP no. 20040402). Mario A. Rodríguez-Pérez holds a scholarship from Comisión de Operación y Fomento de Actividades Académicas/ Instituto Politécnico Nacional.

^* Address correspondence to Mario A. Rodríguez-Pérez, Centro de Biotecnología Genómica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Boulevard del Maestro Esquina Elías Piña, Col. Narciso Mendoza, 88710. Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. E-mail: drmarodriguez{at}hotmail.com

Authors’ addresses: Mario A. Rodríguez-Pérez, Cristian Lizarazo-Ortega, and Patricia Lugo-Moreno, Centro de Biotecnología Genómica, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Boulevard del Maestro Esquina Elías Piña, Col. Narciso Mendoza, 88710. Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Hassan K. Hassan and Thomas R. Unnasch, Gorgas Center of Geographic Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1530 3rd Avenue South, Birmingham, 35294 AL. Jorge Méndez-Galván, Centro Nacional de Vigilancia Epidemiológica y Control de Enfermedades, Benjamin Franklin 132. 1er piso. Colonia Escandón, Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, 11800 Mexico City, Mexico. Alfredo Domínguez-Vásquez and Mauricio Sauerbrey, Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas, 14 Calle 3-51, Zona 10, Edificio Murano Center, Oficina 1401, CP 01010 Guatemala City, Guatemala. Frank Richards Jr., River Blindness Program, Carter Center, One Copenhill, 453 Freedom Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30307.