Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Are these moths blinding children? Nepalese researchers seek answers

Researchers are carrying out environmental surveys and genomic sequencing to try to learn more about SHAPU, a severe eye condition that mainly affects children — but funding is still scarce.
  1. Saugat Bolakhe

    1. Saugat Bolakhe is a freelance writer in New York City.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A furry white moth sitting on some greenery.

A moth from the Gazalina genus. An unidentified type of white moth, perhaps a species of Gazalina, has been linked with outbreaks of a debilitating eye disease in Nepal. Credit: Licheng Shih via iNaturalist (CC BY 4.0)

September is typically the end of the monsoon season in Nepal — and the time of year when eye clinicians begin to worry. A mysterious and debilitating eye infection, known as seasonal hyperacute panuveitis1 (SHAPU), starts affecting people, mainly children, in some parts of the country. Symptoms typically begin with a painless reddening and loss of pressure in one eye. If the condition is not treated in 24–48 hours, the children are at risk of losing their eyesight.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03414-7

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 06 November 2023: A previous version of this article stated that Nepal has no metagenomic sequencing laboratories. The text has been corrected.

References

  1. Karn, M. & Gurung, J. Lancet Glob. Health 10, e39–e40 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Upadhyay, M. P. et al. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 28, 250–257 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links