The name dracunculiasis is derived from the Latin “affliction with little dragons”, while the name “guinea worm”
appeared after Europeans saw the disease on the Guinea coast of West Africa in the 17th century
. Other Dracunculus species are known to infect various mammals, but do not appear to infect humans.
What is meant by guinea worm?
Guinea worm is, in fact, a real worm. It is a large nematode,
Dracunculus medinensis
, which is ingested through drinking contaminated water. The condition is known as dracunculiasis or guinea-worm disease. The worm eventually causes a debilitating and painful infection that begins with a blister, normally on the leg.
Is Guinea worm painful?
When the adult female worm comes out of the skin,
it can be very painful
, take time to remove, and be disabling. Often, the wound caused by the emerging worm develops a secondary bacterial infection. This makes the pain worse and can increase the time an infected person is unable to function from weeks to months.
What does guinea worm do?
Guinea worm disease, a neglected tropical disease (NTD), is caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis. The disease affects poor communities in remote parts of Africa that do not have safe water to drink. There is neither a drug
treatment
for Guinea worm disease nor a vaccine to prevent it.
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.
How do you get rid of guinea worm?
Treatment involves removing the worm
manually by a healthcare professional
. When a part of the worm begins to emerge out of the wound, a stick is placed around the wound. The worm is carefully pulled out only a few centimeters each day by winding it around the stick.
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.
How does Guinea worm affect the body?
When the adult female worm is ready to come out, it creates a
blister on the skin
anywhere on the body, but usually on the legs and feet. This blister causes a very painful burning feeling and it bursts within 24-72 hours. Immersing the affected body part into water helps relieve the pain.
What is worm in human body?
Intestinal worms, also known as parasitic worms, are one of the main types of intestinal parasites. Common types of intestinal worms include:
flatworms
, which include tapeworms and flukes. roundworms, which cause ascariasis, pinworm, and hookworm infections.
What is the life cycle of Guinea worm?
The male worm dies shortly after mating, and the female matures over the subsequent
10–14 months
, slowly migrates to the surface of the body and emerges through the skin. When affected body parts are submerged in water, the female worm releases larvae, which are ingested by copepods, thus completing the life cycle.
How can you prevent getting guinea worm?
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.
Why can guinea worm infection be eradicated?
Unfortunately,
there is no medicine to cure
Guinea worm disease nor a vaccine to prevent it, and humans do not develop immunity to the disease. However, disease transmission can be prevented. Guinea worm disease is on track to become the second human disease, and the first parasitic disease, to be eradicated.
Can parasites live in your body for years?
Signs and Symptoms
Parasites
can live in the intestines for years without causing symptoms
. When they do, symptoms include the following: Abdominal pain. Diarrhea.
Why is eliminating Guinea worm so difficult?
However, finishing off Guinea worm is proving difficult. DNA analysis has confirmed that an 8-year-old Angolan girl has the disease, the first case recorded in the country. Guinea worm disease is caused by Dracunculus medinensis, the complicated lifecycle of which hampers eradication efforts.
What viruses are eradicated?
Two infectious diseases have successfully been eradicated:
smallpox
in humans and rinderpest in ruminants. There are four ongoing programs, targeting the human diseases poliomyelitis (polio), yaws, dracunculiasis (Guinea worm), and malaria.
Are guinea worms in the US?
The North American guinea worms are
nematodes found in numerous furbearing species in the U.S.
and Canada. Two species of worms, Dracunculus insignis and D. lutrae, are recognized under this common name. The slender worms reside in the subcutaneous spaces of the legs, resulting in ulcerations in these affected areas.
