Dracunculiasis

[Zipporah Schumaker]

Dracunculiasis is infection caused by the roundworm Dracunculus medinensis, also known as the Guinea worm. It causes a painful, inflamed skin sore and debilitating arthritis.

People become infected by drinking water containing tiny crustaceans infected with the roundworm.
After mating, female worms move to the skin and create a blister, usually on the lower legs or feet, with swelling, redness, and burning pain in the area around it, and the joints near the blister may be damaged.
Doctors diagnose the infection when they see the worm come out through the blister.
Drinking only water that has been filtered, boiled, or chlorinated helps prevent the infection.
The worm is removed by slowly rolling it on a stick or surgically.

(See also Overview of Parasitic Infections.)
In the mid-1980s, 3.5 million people had dracunculiasis. The disease was widespread in many parts of tropical Africa,Yemen, India, and Pakistan. But by 2018, because of international efforts to stop dracunculiasis, only 28 cases were reported. Transmission remains within a narrow belt of only a few African countries—Chad, Mali, and Ethiopia, and possibly Sudan and South Sudan. The guinea worm is close to being eliminated.