TOW 18: With River Blindness, 'You Never Sleep'

Voluntarily rubbing a red-hot machete up and down one's back was not an uncommon sight where river blindness was rampant. This disease, technically known as "onchocerciasis," is a rare tropical disease where one gets infected by flies. Getting bitten by one these infected flies will lead to its reproduction in the person's  body. Severe side effects can occur, such as blindness or intense itching when the worm dies. The rubbing of the red-hot machete was a practice to eliminate the itching, along with pouring boiling water on one's body, or even breaking a clay pot and using the jagged shards to itch. Great efforts have been made for the elimination of this disease, such as Merck's generous donations of a vaccine called "ivermectin," which kills and paralyzes the worms. Social consequences have occurred, as those infected are isolated. Because of this, marriages have been confined to those in one village so incest has been on the rise. Total elimination of this disease in Uganda by 2020 is a goal that will hopefully be achieved.

This article was written by Elizabeth Landau from CNN News.

This article was important in context. It tells of an underrated disease that is inflicting major harm on many people in distant countries. Pharmaceutical companies are already in action, donating medication. It tells the audience that such diseases are still widespread in developing countries, and it raises awareness that we can all do something to help.

The purpose of this article was to tell of an unfortunate disease that is widespread in Africa. Its negative effects on the physical body as well as the social consequences were discussed.

The text was written for the general public, but those in the health or pharmaceutical industries are probably going to be most impacted by this, as they hold some power to be able to bring positive change to these areas with medication and vaccines.

Pathos was used in this article. Landau wrote about one particular man named Semanza who had river blindness. He was isolated from his own family, and no one would approach or befriend him because of his skin from excessive itching and the flies that flew around him. After using invermectin, he gained happiness as well as a wife. This inspirational story really impacted the emotions, as it shows the positive, life-changing effect of one vaccine. It was also upsetting to realize that because Uganda is still a developing country, these vaccines are not widespread and are only available through the donations of large pharmaceutical countries, which probably compelled many people to do something to help.

The author's purpose of telling about the river disease was accomplished. Her usage of pathos to appeal to emotions, as well as her facts and real-life stories all contributed to our further knowledge of a majorly underrated disease that is currently impacting many in Africa.