How does Guinea worm disease spread? People become infected with
Guinea worms by drinking unfiltered water from ponds and other stagnant water containing copepods
(tiny “water fleas” too small to be clearly seen without a magnifying glass).
How do you get rid of Guinea worm?
What is the treatment for Guinea worm disease?
There is no drug to treat
Guinea worm disease and no vaccine to prevent infection. Once part of the worm begins to come out of the wound, the rest of the worm can only be pulled out a few centimeters each day by winding it around a piece of gauze or a small stick.
What is the causative agent of dracunculiasis?
Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) is caused by the
nematode (roundworm) Dracunculus medinensis
.
How can Guinea worm be avoided?
Prevention. No vaccine exists against Guinea worm, but the disease can be completely prevented by
ensuring safe drinking water
and not allowing the adult worms to disperse their larvae. The best way to prevent infection is to drink water only from uncontaminated water sources, like hand-dug wells and boreholes.
How do people get guinea worms?
People become infected with Guinea
worms by drinking unfiltered water from ponds and other stagnant water containing copepods
(tiny “water fleas” too small to be clearly seen without a magnifying glass). These copepods swallow Guinea worm larvae.
What happens if a guinea worm breaks?
If the worm breaks during removal it can
cause intense inflammation as the remaining part of
the dead worm starts to degrade inside the body. This causes more pain, swelling, and cellulitis
[ 1 , 2 ]
.
Where is the Guinea worm found?
The guinea worm, a parasite of humans, is found in
tropical regions of Asia and Africa and in the West Indies and tropical South America
. A variety of other mammals are also parasitized by guinea worms. The disease caused by the worm is called guinea worm disease (or dracunculiasis).
Where is Guinea worm disease most common?
Most animal infections have occurred in
Chad
but some have been reported in Ethiopia and Mali. In 2018, Chad reported 1,040 infected dogs and 25 cats; Ethiopia reported 11 infected dogs, five cats, and one baboon; and Mali reported 18 infected dogs and two cats.
What is the incubation period for Guinea worm disease?
As the incubation period of the worm takes
10–14 months
, a single missed case will delay eradication by a year or more.
Is the Guinea worm extinct?
Incidences of Guinea worm disease have been reduced from an estimated 3.5 million in 1986 to 27* in 2020.
The disease has been eliminated in 17 countries
. The Guinea worm eradication campaign has averted at least 80 million cases of this devastating disease among the world’s poorest and most neglected people.
Can worms come out of your ears?
Occasionally worms are found in the female genital organs.
More rarely
, they are found in the ears and nose.
Which disease caused due to worm?
Infections caused by roundworms are fairly common.
Ascariasis is the most common roundworm infection
. About 10 percent of the developing world is infected with intestinal worms, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
How long can a human have worms?
Adult worms can live up to 7 years in a person’s lymph system
. The disease only spreads from person to person through mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites an infected person, they can spread the tiny worms to other people they bite.
Can you feel worms under your skin?
People with
loiasis
can have itching all over the body (even when they do not have Calabar swellings), hives, muscle pains, joint pains, and tiredness. Sometimes adult worms can be seen moving under the skin.
