Feature Stories: Guinea Worm, South Sudan

Guinea worm disease is a parasitic infection caused by the nematode roundworm parasite Dracunculus medenisis.

Guinea worm disease is contracted when people ingest drinking water from stagnant sources containing copepods (commonly referred to as water fleas) that harbor infective Guinea worm larvae. Inside a human's abdomen, Guinea worm larvae mate and female worms mature and grow, some as long as 3 feet (1 meter). After a year of incubation, the female Guinea worm creates an agonizingly painful lesion on the skin and slowly emerges from the body. The contamination cycle begins when victims, seeking relief from the burning sensation caused by the emerging Guinea worm, immerse their limbs in sources of drinking water, which stimulates the emerging worm to release larvae into the water and begin the cycle all over again.

Guinea worm disease incapacitates victims for extended periods of time making them unable to work or grow enough food to feed their families or attend school.

In 1986, the disease afflicted an estimated 3.5 million people a year in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. Today, thanks to the work of The Carter Center and its partners—including the countries themselves—the incidence of Guinea worm has been reduced by more than 99 percent.

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

Traditional removal of a Guinea worm consists of winding the worm - up to 3 feet (1 meter) long - around a small stick and manually extracting it—a slow, painful process that often takes weeks. The skin lesions often develop secondary bacterial infections, which exacerbate the suffering and prolong the period of disability.

The best way to stop Guinea worm disease is to prevent people from entering sources of drinking water with an active infection and to educate households to always use cloth filters to sieve out tiny water fleas carrying infective larvae.

Educating communities about Guinea worm prevention is vital to stopping the spread of the disease.

Guinea worm disease is set to become the second human disease in history, after smallpox, to be eradicated. It will be the first parasitic disease to be eradicated and the first disease to be eradicated without the use of a vaccine or medical treatment.

In 1986, The Carter Center began to provide technical and financial assistance to national Guinea worm eradication programs, beginning with Pakistan, and today it spearheads the international Guinea worm disease eradication campaign in close partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and many other partners.

In 2010, there were 1,797* cases reported in four African countries—Sudan, Mali, Ethiopia, and Ghana. (*Total includes an isolated outbreak in Chad and one imported case to Niger.)

- The Carter Center