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Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire Jun 2000
Topics: Africa; Dracunculiasis; Humans
PubMed: 10881664
DOI: No ID Found -
Lancet (London, England) Feb 1991
Topics: Animals; Chlortetracycline; Dracunculiasis; Female; Ferrets; Humans; Larva; Ointments
PubMed: 1671508
DOI: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)93444-e -
MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly... Jun 2011Transmission of dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), a waterborne, parasitic disease targeted for eradication, was thought to have been interrupted in Chad since 2000,...
Transmission of dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), a waterborne, parasitic disease targeted for eradication, was thought to have been interrupted in Chad since 2000, when the last case was reported. However, in 2010, 10 cases were confirmed by the Chad Ministry of Public Health (Ministère de la Santé Publique [MSP]) and the World Health Organization (WHO) during field investigations in which rumored cases were investigated and nearby villages were actively searched for additional cases. Because patients were not prevented from contaminating water sources, new cases were expected in 2011. During January-February 2011, MSP, WHO, and CDC conducted an investigation to gather additional information to guide prevention and response activities before the 2011 transmission season. Seven districts where cases had been confirmed or suspected in 2010 or where dracunculiasis was endemic during 1994-2000 were surveyed. The results of those surveys indicated that residents of 116 (55%) of 210 villages and 13 (87%) of 15 nomad camps consumed water from unsafe sources; 157 (75%) of 209 village key informants (KIs) and five (33%) of 15 nomad camp KIs knew about dracunculiasis. Thirty-one villages had confirmed or suspected cases during 2009-2011 and were classified as at-risk, requiring weekly active surveillance and urgent pre-positioning of materials for the 2011 transmission season. Nomadic populations are at risk for dracunculiasis because of unsafe water consumption and minimal knowledge of the disease. These populations also require targeted surveillance and prevention efforts (e.g., filter distribution, education, and case containment) to interrupt dracunculiasis transmission .
Topics: Animals; Chad; Copepoda; Disease Outbreaks; Dracunculiasis; Dracunculus Nematode; Emigration and Immigration; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Hygiene; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Population Surveillance; Water Purification; Water Supply
PubMed: 21659983
DOI: No ID Found -
MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly... Oct 2016Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) is caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a parasitic worm. Approximately 1 year after a person acquires infection from drinking...
Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) is caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a parasitic worm. Approximately 1 year after a person acquires infection from drinking contaminated water, the worm emerges through the skin, usually on the leg. Pain and secondary bacterial infection can cause temporary or permanent disability that disrupts work and schooling. The campaign to eradicate dracunculiasis worldwide began in 1980 at CDC. In 1986, the World Health Assembly called for dracunculiasis elimination (1), and the global Guinea Worm Eradication Program, led by the Carter Center and supported by the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), CDC, and other partners, began assisting ministries of health in countries where dracunculiasis was endemic. In 1986, an estimated 3.5 million cases were occurring each year in 20 countries in Africa and Asia (1,2). Since then, although the goal of eradicating dracunculiasis has not been achieved, substantial progress has been made. Compared with the 1986 estimate, the annual number of reported cases in 2015 has been reduced by >99%, and cases are confined to four countries with endemic disease. This report updates published (3-5) and unpublished surveillance data reported by ministries of health and describes progress toward dracunculiasis eradication during January 2015-June 2016. In 2015, a total of 22 cases were reported from four countries (Chad [nine cases], Mali [five], South Sudan [five], and Ethiopia [three]), compared with 126 cases reported in 2014 from the same four countries (Table 1). The overall 83% reduction in cases from 2014 to 2015 is the largest such annual overall reduction ever achieved during this global campaign. During the first 6 months of 2016, however, cases increased 25% compared with the same period in 2015. Continued active surveillance and aggressive detection and appropriate management of cases are essential eradication program components; however, epidemiologic challenges and civil unrest and insecurity pose potential barriers to eradication.
Topics: Disease Eradication; Dracunculiasis; Global Health; Humans
PubMed: 27736840
DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6540a5 -
Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire Apr 2016
Topics: Animals; Certification; Chad; Congresses as Topic; Disease Eradication; Dog Diseases; Dogs; Dracunculiasis; Endemic Diseases; Ethiopia; Global Health; Humans; Kenya; Mali; Sudan
PubMed: 27132287
DOI: No ID Found -
Releve Epidemiologique Hebdomadaire May 2015
Topics: Chad; Disease Eradication; Dracunculiasis; Ethiopia; Global Health; Humans; Kenya; Mali; Sudan
PubMed: 26027017
DOI: No ID Found -
MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly... Mar 1995The plan for the global eradication of dracunculiasis (i.e., Guinea worm disease) was developed in October 1980 (1). Since 1987-1988, Global 2000, Inc., the United...
The plan for the global eradication of dracunculiasis (i.e., Guinea worm disease) was developed in October 1980 (1). Since 1987-1988, Global 2000, Inc., the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the U.S. Agency for International Development have assisted the Guinea Worm Eradication Programs in Ghana and Nigeria, countries in west Africa. In 1989, Ghana and Nigeria ranked first and second in the number of reported cases of dracunculiasis with 179,556 and 640,008 cases, respectively (2). This report summarizes data for the two countries during 1994 and describes efforts toward eradication of dracunculiasis.
Topics: Dracunculiasis; Ghana; Humans; Nigeria
PubMed: 7870023
DOI: No ID Found -
MMWR. CDC Surveillance Summaries :... Mar 1992In 1986 the World Health Organization (WHO) designated dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) as the next disease scheduled to be eradicated (by 1995) after smallpox....
In 1986 the World Health Organization (WHO) designated dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) as the next disease scheduled to be eradicated (by 1995) after smallpox. Dramatic improvement in national and international surveillance has played a key role in the global eradication campaign, which was initiated at CDC in 1980. About 3 million persons are still affected by the disease annually, with adverse effects on their health as well as on agricultural production and education. Over 100 million persons are at risk of having the disease in more than 20,000 villages in India, Pakistan, and 17 African countries. At least one nationwide, village-by-village search to detect all villages with endemic dracunculiasis and count cases is recommended at the outset of each national campaign, followed by monthly reporting by village-based health workers in the targeted villages during the implementation phase. Rapid dissemination of the results of the surveillance is critical. Intensive case detection and containment--with rewards for reporting of cases--are most appropriate near the end of each campaign. Cameroon, Ghana, India, Nigeria, and Pakistan have pioneered the various surveillance methods for this disease in recent years. Methods for conducting surveillance of dracunculiasis and other important diseases must continue to be developed and improved as countries now believed to be free of dracunculiasis prepare to apply to WHO for certification of elimination of dracunculiasis.
Topics: Africa; Animals; Dracunculiasis; Dracunculus Nematode; Humans; India; Pakistan; Population Surveillance; Seasons
PubMed: 1532630
DOI: No ID Found -
Parasitology Oct 2017Guinea worm disease, dracunculiasis or dracontiasis, is an ancient disease with records going back over 4500 years, but until the beginning of the 20th century, little... (Review)
Review
Guinea worm disease, dracunculiasis or dracontiasis, is an ancient disease with records going back over 4500 years, but until the beginning of the 20th century, little was known about its life cycle, particularly how humans became infected. In 1905, Robert Thomas Leiper was sent by the British colonial authorities to West Africa to investigate the spread of Guinea worm disease and to recommend measures to prevent it. While carrying out his investigations, he made important contributions to the aetiology, epidemiology and public health aspects of Guinea worm disease and provided definitive answers to many outstanding questions. First, he tested the validity of previous theories; second, he confirmed the role of water fleas, which he identified as Cyclops, as the intermediate hosts in the life cycle; third, he investigated the development of the parasite in its intermediate host; and fourth, he recommended measures to prevent the disease. [The crustacean Order Cyclopoida in the Family Cyclopidae contains 25 genera, including Cyclops which itself contains over 400 species and may not even be a valid taxon. It is not known how many of these species (or indeed species belonging to related genera) can act as intermediate hosts of Dracunculus medinensis nor do we know which species Fedchenko, Leiper and other workers used in their experiments. It is, therefore, best to use the terms copepod, or copopoid crustacean rather than Cyclops in scientific texts. In this paper, these crustaceans are referred to as copepods except when referring to an original text.] Leiper described the remarkable changes that took place when an infected copepod was placed in a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid; the copepod was immediately killed, but the Dracunculus larvae survived and were released into the surrounding water. From this, he concluded that if a person swallowed an infected copepod, their gastric juice would produce similar results. He next infected monkeys by feeding them copepods infected with Guinea worm larvae, and thus conclusively demonstrated that humans became infected by accidentally ingesting infected crustaceans. Based on these conclusions, he advocated a number of control policies, including avoidance of contaminated drinking water or filtering it, and these preventive measures paved the way for further research. The challenge to eradicate Guinea worm disease was not taken up until about seven decades later since when, with the support of a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations, the number of cases has been reduced from an estimated 3·5 million in 1986 to 25 in 2016 with the expectation that this will eventually lead to the eradication of the disease.
Topics: Africa, Western; Animals; Communicable Disease Control; Disease Eradication; Dracunculiasis; Dracunculus Nematode; History, 20th Century; Public Health
PubMed: 28653590
DOI: 10.1017/S0031182017000683 -
MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly... Oct 2009Dracunculiasis is a parasitic infection caused by Dracunculus medinensis. Persons become infected by drinking water from stagnant sources (e.g., ponds) contaminated by...
Dracunculiasis is a parasitic infection caused by Dracunculus medinensis. Persons become infected by drinking water from stagnant sources (e.g., ponds) contaminated by copepods (water fleas) that contain immature forms of the parasite. In 1986, the World Health Assembly (WHA) called for the eradication of dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) at a time when an estimated 3.5 million cases occurred annually in 20 countries in Africa and Asia and 120 million persons were at risk for the disease. Because of slow mobilization in countries with endemic disease, the global dracunculiasis eradication program did not meet the 1995 target date for eradicating dracunculiasis set by WHA in 1991. In 2004, WHA established a new target date of 2009 ; despite considerable progress toward global eradication, that target date also will not be met. This report updates continued progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis since January 2008. At the end of December 2008, dracunculiasis was endemic in six countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan). The number of indigenous cases of dracunculiasis had decreased 52%, from 9,585 in 2007 to 4,619 in 2008. Of the 1,446 cases that occurred during January-June 2009, 1,413 (98%) were reported from Sudan and Ghana. Currently, insecurity (e.g., sporadic violence or civil unrest) in areas of Sudan and Mali where dracunculiasis is endemic poses the greatest threat to the success of the global dracunculiasis eradication program.
Topics: Africa; Animals; Dracunculiasis; Dracunculus Nematode; Humans; Water Supply; World Health Organization
PubMed: 19834453
DOI: No ID Found