Onchocerciasis (river blindness)

• 100% — For active disease
• 0% — After active disease has resolved, rate at 0 percent for infection. Rate any residual disability of infection within the appropriate body system.

To support a 100% rating, medical records showing active onchocerciasis are key — for example, clinical diagnoses, laboratory findings, biopsy results confirming the parasite, or treating physician notes documenting ongoing active infection. Once the active disease has resolved, evidence shifts to the specific residuals you experience. If the infection affected your eyes, eye examination records documenting vision loss or other findings would apply to that body system's rating criteria. If skin or neurological symptoms remain, records from those evaluations would support ratings under those systems. Statements from you or people who know you, describing how remaining symptoms affect your work and daily activities, can help show the severity of any residual disability that medical records alone may not fully capture.

• Tropical disease — 38 CFR § 3.309(b)
• Prisoner of war — 38 CFR § 3.309(c)