Onchocerca

Onchocerca
Adult black fly with Onchocerca volvulus emerging from the insect's antenna
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Nematoda
Class: Chromadorea
Order: Rhabditida
Family: Onchocercidae
Genus: Onchocerca
Diesing, 1841

Onchocerca is a genus of parasitic roundworm. It contains one human parasite – Onchocerca volvulus – which is responsible for the neglected disease Onchocerciasis, also known as "river blindness" because the infected humans tend to live near rivers where host black flies live. Over 40 million people are infected in Africa, Central America, and South America. Other species affect cattle, horses, etc.

A few cases of zoonotic infections (cases in which parasites that normally infect animals also infect humans) have been reported in Japan for O. japonica and O. takaokai.

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