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Dracunculiasis, also called Guinea-worm disease, is a parasitic infection by the Guinea worm, Dracunculus medinensis. A person becomes infected by drinking water contaminated with Guinea-worm larvae that reside inside copepods (a type of small crustacean).
Logarithmic scale of reported Guinea Worm Cases 1989–2022. Eradication of dracunculiasis is an ongoing program.Dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease, is an infection by the Guinea worm that causes severe pain and open wounds when guinea worms exit the body through the skin. [1]
Dracunculus medinensis (Guinea worm, dragon worm, fiery serpent [1]) is a nematode that causes dracunculiasis, also known as guinea worm disease. [2] The disease is caused by the female [ 3 ] which, at around 80 centimetres (31 inches) in length, [ 4 ] is among the longest nematodes infecting humans. [ 5 ]
Eliminating other diseases. There’s no vaccine that prevents Guinea worm infections or medicine that gets rid of the parasites. Treatment has changed little since ancient Greece. Emerging worms are gently wound around a stick as they’re slowly pulled through the skin. Removing an entire worm without breaking it can take weeks.
Guinea worm disease remains on the cusp of being eradicated, with the global number of cases in 2023 holding steady at 13, according to a provisional account released by The Carter Center. Global ...
The Latin name of Guinea worm disease — Dracunculiasis — means “affliction with little dragons.” The calcified remains of the worm have been found in a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy of a ...
Unlike diseases such as smallpox and polio, there is no vaccine or drug therapy for guinea worm. [44] Eradication efforts have been based on making drinking water supplies safer (e.g. by provision of borehole wells, or through treating the water with larvicide), on containment of infection and on education for safe drinking water practices.
Guinea worm disease was first detected in dogs in 2012, forcing a shift in strategy. “Infection in dogs and cats in these last countries makes it harder to get there by 2030,” Tappero said.