How did Nigeria eradicate Guinea worm disease?
One of the cardinal strategies for guinea-worm eradication in Nigeria has been active case search – a surveillance programme that used thousands of village volunteers to conduct house-to-house search for disease. Polio vaccinators helped to support surveillance during this final stage of eradication.
What preventative steps are needed to eradicate Guinea worm disease?
Prevention. No vaccine exists against Guinea worm, but the disease can be completely prevented by ensuring safe drinking water and not allowing the adult worms to disperse their larvae. The best way to prevent infection is to drink water only from uncontaminated water sources, like hand-dug wells and boreholes.
What is being done to treat the Guinea worm disease?
There is no drug to treat Guinea worm disease and no vaccine to prevent Guinea worm infection. Once part of the worm begins to come out of the wound, the rest of the worm can only be pulled out a few centimeters each day by winding it around a piece of gauze or a small stick.
How has Guinea worm been eradicated?
Unfortunately, there is no medicine to cure Guinea worm disease nor a vaccine to prevent it, and humans do not develop immunity to the disease. However, disease transmission can be prevented. Guinea worm disease is on track to become the second human disease, and the first parasitic disease, to be eradicated.
When was Guinea worm eradicated Nigeria?
Figure 1. Nigerian newspaper headline on President Carter’s first visit to Nigeria for Guinea worm eradication, March 14, 1988….Table 1.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1986 | First State Task Force on Guinea Worm Eradication (Anambra) |
How do you stop a worm infestation?
How to prevent worm infections
- wash your hands before eating or preparing food, and after touching soil or using the toilet.
- only drink bottled or boiled water in high-risk areas (places without modern toilets or sewage systems)
- deworm pet dogs and cats regularly.
- dispose of dog and cat poo in a bin as soon as possible.
How is Guinea worm controlled?
Chemical treatment of water bodies with temephos is also an effective and safe way of controlling transmission. Treatment consists of rolling out each emerging worm onto a small stick, a few centimetres each day, and certain drugs reduce the pain and pruritus and enable the worm to be removed more quickly.
What causes worms to come out of your skin?
Some worms can go through your skin when they are young and small. Sometimes you get worms when an infected insect bites you or when you eat meat from an infected animal. Worms are often passed through the pee or poop of an infected animal or person.
Are guinea worms endangered?
The guinea worm is now one of the most endangered species on Earth. There is no hidden population of the parasites lurking in dogs or raccoons, waiting to launch a renewed attack. Those animals get infected with their own species of Dracunculus, but cannot host our little dragon.
Where can you find Guinea worm?
When The Carter Center began to provide technical and financial assistance to national eradication programs in 1986, Guinea worm disease was found in 20 countries in Africa and Asia. Today the disease remains in six countries, all in Africa: Sudan, Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Niger.
Is Nigeria Guinea worm Free?
Nigeria has been certified as a Guinea Worm Free Country by the World Health Organisation (WHO).