DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – Just over two dozen people in the world are infected with Guinea worms, according to a new report that community programs are close to eradicating the disease in which a one-meter-long worm slowly comes out of a blister the person’s skin.
The US Carter Center, which is leading the eradication campaign, says only 27 cases were reported in 2020 in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa, or half the number of cases in 2019. The center said infections in animals also showed , a decline of 20%.
Case reduction is welcome in the health community as the coronavirus pandemic grows globally. Despite reductions in many programs around the world, the Carter Center said its community program to eradicate the Guinea worm remained up to 95% operational.
“We report a 50% reduction in human cases, to just 27 people in the world last year who had Guinea worms. And that’s compared to 1986, when there were 3.5 million people who reported Guinea worm disease annually in about 21 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in the Middle East and Asia, ”Adam Weiss , director of the Guinea Worm at the Carter Center Eradication Program, told the Associated Press.
According to provisional figures, Chad had about 12 cases in 2020, followed by Ethiopia with 11. Angola, Cameroon, Mali and South Sudan had one case each.
Weiss said the COVID-19 pandemic complicated logistics and supply chains, reduced research capabilities and made it difficult to move staff, but cited long-term work and community involvement in fighting Guinea’s worm to maintain operations last year.
“We are quite lucky because this is a community program, so the volunteers remained active throughout the pandemic,” he said.
Unlike other diseases that are controlled by drugs or vaccines, the guinea worm can be eradicated by training people to filter and drink clean water. Future challenges will be education, supervision and continuous access to safe drinking water.
Contracted by consuming infected water, Guinea worm disease affects some of the most vulnerable people in the world. The 3-meter-long worm is asymptomatic and incubates in humans up to a year before the onset of pain, often through extremely sensitive parts of the body.
Guinea worm is ready to be the second human disease to be eradicated from smallpox, according to The Carter Center. The World Health Organization warns that remaining cases may be the most difficult to control, as they usually occur in remote and often inaccessible areas.
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Sanz reported from Atlanta.