The picture shows a matchstick being used to roll out the guinea worm from a human leg. (Picture: taken from Wikipedia)
Dracunculiasis, also known as Guinea-worm disease, is close to being eradicated globally, with the number of global cases remaining stable at only 13 in 2023, according to an interim report released by the Carter Center.
The final tally will be confirmed in the coming months. But the initial statistics were consistent with the number of confirmed cases in 2022; in 2021 it was 15.
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In 1986, the number of dracunculiasis cases worldwide reached 3.5 million. At that time, former US President Jimmy Carter announced that the Carter Center, which he established after leaving office, would make eradicating this parasitic disease affecting developing countries in Africa and Asia a priority.
Jason Carter, chairman of the Carter Center’s board of directors and the Carters’ eldest grandson, said, “Eradicating dracunculiasis and the suffering it causes has always been a dream of my grandparents, and they worked very hard to make it happen.”
Carter, who is 99 years old this year, is currently receiving home hospice care in Plains, Georgia. As for Carter’s wife, Rosalynn Carter, she passed away in November last year at the age of 96.
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Dracunculiasis is a parasitic disease caused by Dracunculus medinensis. The larvae are parasitized by water fleas and are infected by people drinking contaminated water. Both humans and animals can contract the disease.
The Carter Center said cases in animals increased slightly from 685 in 2022 to 713 in 2023. But authorities attributed the rise to increased surveillance in Angola and Cameroon.
Of the 13 new cases in 2023, 9 were in the African country of Chad, 2 in South Sudan, and 1 each in Cameroon and Mali.
Carter has said he hopes to outlive Guinea worm.
Guinea worm is expected to be the second human disease to be eradicated after smallpox, the first parasitic disease to be eradicated, and the first parasite to be eradicated without a vaccine sick.
The Carter Center’s eradication program focuses on local education and outreach about the disease and its sources.
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2024-01-26 04:36:15
