In the 1980s , more than 3.5 million people contracted guinea insect disease ( GWD ) , a parasitical infection circulate through drunkenness water . But by 2014 , that phone number was down to 126 . Last year , only 22 the great unwashed developed GWD , and so far this year , there have only been two confirmed cases , in Chad . Two . If this tendency continues , by next class GWD could become the 2d ever human disease to be completely decimate , NPR report .
With the possible exception ofhelminth therapy , parasite transmission is often harmful . Guinea worms ( Dracunculus medinensis ) start out as little larva in a body of water . If that piss is n’t filtered before someone drink it , those larvae can enter a soul ’s body . Once inside the body , they quickly grow , reaching lengths of up to 3 feet before undertake to pass away the body via a large blister . Like so many leech , D. medinensishas a room of make its host to help advance its spread ; blisters are often red-hot to the speck , which drive infected people to inundate their limbs in piss . Once in the water , the parasite can release its larvae , and the whole process starts all over again .
Infection withD. medinensisin itself is n’t black , but it can be incredibly painful . There is no vaccine to prevent GWD , and no medicinal drug to treat transmission , so once the parasite has taken hold , the only way to free someone of the dirt ball to pull it out — a gruesome process that , in rural areas , can lead to more pain and infected wounds .
Fortunately , there ’s a fairly simple solution : sink in water ( even stream it through a piece of cloth can help ) , and staying away from water in which infected hoi polloi have been bathe . But diffuse the Holy Writ about those preventive measures has been tricky , as the last holdout of GWD territory are rural area and villages with little access to resources . Public wellness officials , who are typically outsiders who do n’t speak the local language , have had a hard time obtain a footing to transcend the subject matter along . But in late age , a compounding of local education about how the disease spreads , young laws intended to keep taint people from entering a water source , and event for break those law have made a huge incision in the number of case .
The combat against GWD was taken up decades ago by a herculean ally : Jimmy Carter . The former Chief Executive has made GWD eradication , and disease obliteration in general , a major priority for hisCarter Center .
“ We have it away every person in the world that has guinea louse , ” Cartertoldmental_flossin 2015 . “ So we have to supervise villages that did n’t show a case last year and verify that those cases that we have identify do n’t go in the water and spread the disease to next drinkers … I do n’t think there ’s a dubiety that in the next two or three years we ’ll find the last case . ”
[ h / tNPR ]
