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MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly... Nov 2019Dracunculiasis (also known as Guinea worm disease) is caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis and is acquired by drinking water containing copepods (water fleas)...
Dracunculiasis (also known as Guinea worm disease) is caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis and is acquired by drinking water containing copepods (water fleas) infected with D. medinensis larvae. The worm typically emerges through the skin on a lower limb approximately 1 year after infection, resulting in pain and disability (1). There is no vaccine or medicine to treat the disease; eradication efforts rely on case containment* to prevent water contamination and other interventions to prevent infection, including health education, water filtration, chemical treatment of unsafe water with temephos (an organophosphate larvicide to kill copepods), and provision of safe drinking water (1,2). In 1986, with an estimated 3.5 million cases occurring each year in 20 African and Asian countries (3), the World Health Assembly called for dracunculiasis elimination (4). The global Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP), led by The Carter Center and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), CDC, the United Nations Children's Fund, and other partners, began assisting ministries of health in countries with dracunculiasis. This report, based on updated health ministry data, describes progress to eradicate dracunculiasis during January 2018-June 2019 and updates previous reports (2,4,5). With only five countries currently affected by dracunculiasis (Angola, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, and South Sudan), achievement of eradication is within reach, but it is challenged by civil unrest, insecurity, and lingering epidemiologic and zoologic questions.
Topics: Disease Eradication; Dracunculiasis; Global Health; Humans
PubMed: 31671082
DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6843a5 -
The American Journal of Tropical... May 2010
Topics: Adult; Dracunculiasis; Humans; Male; Perineum; Population Surveillance; Sudan; Violence; Water Supply
PubMed: 20439950
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.2010.09-0681 -
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical... Jul 2012Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) is a preventable waterborne parasitic disease that affects the poorest people living in remote rural areas in sub-Saharan African...
Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) is a preventable waterborne parasitic disease that affects the poorest people living in remote rural areas in sub-Saharan African countries, who do not have access to safe drinking water. The Guinea Worm Eradication Program, a 25-year old campaign to rid the world of Guinea Worm disease has now reached its final stage accelerating to zero cases in all endemic countries. During the 19th and 20th centuries, dracunculiasis was common in much of Southern Asia and the African continent. The overall number of cases has been reduced tremendously by ≥99%, from the 3.32 million cases estimated to have occurred in 1986 in Africa to only 1,797 cases reported in 2010 reported in only five countries (Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia, Chad and Ghana) and Asia free of the disease. This achievement is unique in its kind--the only previously eradicated disease is smallpox, a viral infection for which vaccination was possible--and it has been achieved through primary community-based prevention and health education programs. Most efforts need to be taken in two countries, South Sudan (comprising 94% or 1,698 out of 1,797 of the cases reported world-wide in 2010) and Mali because of frequent movements of nomads in a vast area inside and outside Mali's borders. All factors favourable to dracunculiasis eradication are available including adequate financial resources, community and political support and high levels of advocacy. Thus there is no reason that this disabling parasitic disease cannot be eradicated soon before surprises arise such as new civil conflicts in currently endemic countries.
Topics: Africa South of the Sahara; Animals; Disease Eradication; Dracunculiasis; Dracunculus Nematode; Drinking Water; Humans; Incidence; Life Cycle Stages; Physical Therapy Modalities; Water Quality
PubMed: 22647809
DOI: 10.1016/S1995-7645(12)60088-1 -
The American Journal of Tropical... Jan 2014Dracunculiasis was rediscovered in Chad in 2010 after an apparent absence of 10 years. In April 2012 active village-based surveillance was initiated to determine where,...
Dracunculiasis was rediscovered in Chad in 2010 after an apparent absence of 10 years. In April 2012 active village-based surveillance was initiated to determine where, when, and how transmission of the disease was occurring, and to implement interventions to interrupt it. The current epidemiologic pattern of the disease in Chad is unlike that seen previously in Chad or other endemic countries, i.e., no clustering of cases by village or association with a common water source, the average number of worms per person was small, and a large number of dogs were found to be infected. Molecular sequencing suggests these infections were all caused by Dracunculus medinensis. It appears that the infection in dogs is serving as the major driving force sustaining transmission in Chad, that an aberrant life cycle involving a paratenic host common to people and dogs is occurring, and that the cases in humans are sporadic and incidental.
Topics: Animals; Chad; Dog Diseases; Dogs; Dracunculiasis; Dracunculus Nematode; Humans
PubMed: 24277785
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.13-0554 -
The American Journal of Tropical... Jan 2014
Topics: Animals; Chad; Dog Diseases; Dogs; Dracunculiasis; Humans; Seasons; Zoonoses
PubMed: 24402701
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.13-0662 -
Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire Mar 1993
Topics: Dracunculiasis; Ghana; Humans; Population Surveillance; Rural Population
PubMed: 8448076
DOI: No ID Found -
Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire Feb 1995
Topics: Communicable Disease Control; Dracunculiasis; Humans; Incidence; Sudan
PubMed: 7893596
DOI: No ID Found -
Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire Feb 1993
Topics: Cross-Sectional Studies; Developing Countries; Dracunculiasis; Humans; Incidence; Pakistan; Population Surveillance
PubMed: 8443060
DOI: No ID Found -
Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire May 1999
Topics: Africa; Dracunculiasis; Humans; Population Surveillance; World Health Organization
PubMed: 10382372
DOI: No ID Found -
Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire Jul 1994
Topics: Chad; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dracunculiasis; Humans; Incidence; Population Surveillance; Rural Population
PubMed: 7917882
DOI: No ID Found