A CLINICAL CLASSIFICATION AND GRADING SYSTEM OF THE CUTANEOUS CHANGESIN ONCHOCERCIASIS

Although onchocerciasis is one of the most important diseases of the s kin and eye in the tropical world, to date there has been no formal co nsensus regarding the description and terminology of skin lesions. Fur thermore, the contribution of cutaneous pathology to the morbidity and socio-economic effects of the disease has been largely neglected. We present a clinical classification and grading system for recording the cutaneous changes of onchocerciasis, and propose that this system be used as a standard method of description to convey clinical informatio n between workers in all endemic areas to assist local and comparative research.