DAKAR, Senegal (AP) – Just over two dozen people in the world are infected with Guinea worm, according to a new report which says community programs are close to eradicating the disease in which a meter-long worm is slowly emerging from a bladder in a person’s skin.
According to the US Carter Center, which is leading the eradication campaign, in 2020 only 27 cases were reported in six countries in sub-Saharan Africa, or half the number of cases in 2019. The center said that animal infections were also declining. 20%. .
The reduction of cases is welcome in the health community as the coronavirus pandemic is increasing worldwide. Despite the cuts to many programs worldwide, The Carter Center said its community-based program to eradicate Guinea worm remains up to 95% in operation.
‘We report a 50% reduction in human cases, to just 27 people in the world last year who had Guinea worm. “This is compared to 1986, when 3.5 million people reported Guinea worm disease annually in about 21 countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, but also in the Middle East and Asia,” said Adam Weiss. director of the Guinea worm of The Carter Center. Eradication program, told The Associated Press.
According to preliminary figures, Chad followed about 12 cases in 2020, followed by Ethiopia with 11. Angola, Cameroon, Mali and South Sudan each had one case.
Weiss said the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated logistics and supply chains, hampering the ability to reduce research activities, relocating staff members, but he cites years of work and community involvement in fighting Guinea worm because it operated last year kept going.
“We are very happy because it is a community-based program, and so the volunteers remained active throughout the pandemic,” he said.
Unlike other diseases controlled by medicines or vaccines, Guinea worm can be eradicated by training people to filter and drink clean water. The challenges ahead are education, supervision and continued access to safe drinking water.
Some of the most vulnerable people in the world occur by drinking contaminated water. The 3-foot worm is asymptomatic and hatches in humans for up to a year before emerging painfully, often through extremely sensitive body parts.
Guinea worm is, according to The Carter Center, the second human disease to be eradicated after smallpox. The World Health Organization warns that the remaining cases may be the most difficult to control, as they usually occur in remote and often inaccessible areas.
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Sanz reports from Atlanta.