| river blindness. protection for 54 cents a year. | infection by onchocerca volvulus, a parasitic worm, causes onchocerciasis (river blindness), a debilitating and often blinding disease endemic to tropical areas of africa and central and south america. the adult onchocerca volvulus invades the human host where it lives and reproduces for up to 14 years, creating millions of infant worms which cause itching, loss of skin color, rapid aging, and disfiguring skin disease in the host. onchocerciasis often causes blindness in the human host by appr ... | 1998 | 12348635 |