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Scientific Reports Jan 2020Dracunculus medinensis, the causative agent of Guinea worm disease in humans, is being reported with increasing frequency in dogs. However, the route(s) of transmission...
Dracunculus medinensis, the causative agent of Guinea worm disease in humans, is being reported with increasing frequency in dogs. However, the route(s) of transmission to dogs is still poorly understood. Classical transmission to humans occurs via drinking water that contains cyclopoid copepods infected with third stage larvae of D. medinensis, but due to the method of dog drinking (lapping) compared to humans (suction and/or retrieval of water into containers), it seems unlikely that dogs would ingest copepods readily through drinking. We exposed lab raised beagles to varying densities of uninfected copepods in 2 liters of water to evaluate the number of copepods ingested during a drinking event. We confirmed dogs can ingest copepod intermediate hosts while drinking; however, low numbers were ingested at the densities that are typically observed in Chad suggesting this transmission route may be unlikely. Overall, the relative importance of the classic transmission route and alternate transmission routes, such as paratenic and transport hosts, needs investigation in order to further clarify the epidemiology of guinea worm infections in dogs.
Topics: Animals; Chad; Communicable Disease Control; Copepoda; Disease Vectors; Dogs; Dracunculiasis; Dracunculus Nematode; Eating; Female; Humans; Male
PubMed: 31996759
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58191-4 -
MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly... Nov 2019In the report "Progress Toward Global Eradication of Dracunculiasis - January 2018-June 2019," on page 979, a sentence was omitted from the first paragraph. The...
In the report "Progress Toward Global Eradication of Dracunculiasis - January 2018-June 2019," on page 979, a sentence was omitted from the first paragraph. The paragraph should have read as follows.
PubMed: 31774742
DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6847a3 -
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