Diethylcarbamazine is effective treatment for the microfilarial stage, but a hypersensitivity reaction to large numbers of
dying parasites in the anterior chamber of the eye may cause irreversible blindness and, in some cases, death. A safer
course, in otherwise asymptomatic victims, is periodic “nodulectomy,” which removes the adult worms and significantly
lowers the morbidity of onchocerciasis.
