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Could antibiotics cure river blindness?

The cause of river blindness might not be infection by filarial worms called Onchocerca volvulus as has been thought but rather the bacteria the worms carry. Laboratory study by Eric Pearlman at Case Western Reserve University revealed that the endotoxin of the bacterium Wolbachia causes more of the blindness of onchocerciasis than the worm itself. If this is true the disease could then be treated with antibiotics. However antibiotics would require a 6- week daily treatment a regime that Han Remme of WHO’s Tropical Disease Research Program said would be completely impractical and difficult to implement. Clinical trials are needed to determine the minimum period for antibiotic therapy.