Guinea Worm Disease (Dracunculiasis)-Jedidiah Nixon

What is Guinea Worm Disease?

About Guinea Worm Disease• Guinea worm disease is caused by the nematode

roundworm parasite Dracunculus medenisis

• Guinea worm disease is contracted when people ingest water containing copepods (water fleas) that harbor Guinea worm larvae.

• Inside the unfortunate human’s abdomen, Guinea Worm larvae mate-the males die shortly after, but the females mature and grow, sometimes up to a meter in length.

• About a year after the person has become infected, the adult female worms emerge from the skin (usually 1 to 3 emerge at once)

• If the partially emerged female worm makes contact with water, it releases its larvae… and the circle of life begins again… isn’t it beautiful

• The emergence of the worm is painful and often incapacitates people for 2 to 3 months

Treatment/Prevention of Guinea Worm Disease

• There is no known curative medicine or vaccine to prevent Guinea worm disease

• Traditionally, the partially emerged female worm is removed by being wrapped around a small stick and extracted by hand-a slow painful process that takes weeks

• The best way to stop Guinea Worm disease is to prevent people from entering sources of water with an active infection

• A simple way to avoid contracting Guinea worm disease is to drink through a tube with a filter made from a triple layer of cotton cloth, tube-filters such as this can be made from readily available materials and are also distributed by the Carter Center.

Photos…

http://www.stanford.edu/class/humbio103/ParaSites2004/Dracunuliasis/Guinea%20Worm.html

http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/Dracunculiasis.htm

http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/Dracunculiasis.htm

http://www.dpd.cdc.gov/dpdx/HTML/Dracunculiasis.htm

http://bigthink.com/Resurgence/carter-center-helps-to-wipe-out-guinea-worm

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/07/visions-now-next

http://www.who.int/ctd/dracun/geo.htm

http://www.stanford.edu/group/parasites/ParaSites2009/TadHenry_Dracumculiasis/TadHenry_Dracumculiasis.htm

http://www.allianceforthelostboys.com/health-handout.html