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                WHO: Guinea Worm Disease on Verge of Eradication

   by Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The World Health Organization reports Guinea Worm disease,
   which has plagued people for thousands of years, is on the verge of
   eradication.

   The U.N. agency says fewer than 400 cases of the infectious parasitic
   disease exist in four African countries, and that it will soon become
   only the second, after smallpox, to be wiped off the face of the earth.

   A third contender for eradication is polio.

   WHO officials report 396 cases of Guinea worm disease in the first six
   months of this year compared to 807 cases in the same period in 2011, a
   dramatic decrease in incidence since the mid-1980s, which saw an
   estimated 3.5-million cases in 20 countries in Asia and Africa.

   According to Dr. Gaitam Biswas, Guinea Worm Eradication Program team
   leader, the worm is now present only in Mali, Ethiopia, Chad, and newly
   independent South Sudan, which has an estimated 99 percent of remaining
   cases.

   "I think the efforts are on so that we can very quickly interrupt
   transmission so that the world can be certified as free of the
   disease," he said. "When it is done, Guinea worm disease will be the
   first parasitic disease to be eradicated from the world, and that
   without any vaccine or medicine."

   A crippling parasitic disease caused by a long thread-like worm, Guinea
   worm is a water-borne illness transmitted via consumption of water
   contaminated by parasite-infected fleas.

   Though rarely fatal, the disease leaves infected adults unable to work
   for months, and children are unable to go to school. The subsequent
   loss of earning power economically devastates communities.

   Unlike smallpox and polio, Guinea worm has no preventative vaccine or
   medication to treat it. Vigilant surveillance and detection of each
   case, said Dr. Biswas, has been key to reducing its prevalence.

   WHO officials say finding and containing the last remaining cases of
   the disease is the most difficult stage of the eradication process,
   because cases usually occur in remote, hard-to-reach areas.

   "The only kind of constraint that we see is sometimes happening because
   of insecurities, which result in population movement from their
   villages or the access to the health services are problematic due to
   these insecurities," he said. "The difficulty in South Sudan is it is a
   vast country, and the resources and the terrain is very difficult to
   reach, so in the initial years, the surveillance had been quite
   challenging."

   The U.N. agency says Guinea Worm will be declared eradicated only after
   transmission of the disease in the affected countries has been
   interrupted for a minimum period of three years.

   Dr. Biswas says sustained implementation of transmission control -
   ensuring wide access to safe drinking water and promoting health
   education and behavior change - is the best way to prevent infection.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/who-officials-say-guinea-worm-disease
   -nearing-eradication/1497310.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/who-officials-say-guinea-worm-disease-nearing-eradication/1497310.html