In many countries, a broken worm is immediately removed surgically.Dracunculiasis, or as it is more commonly known Guinea worm disease (GWD), is caused by a parasite the Guinea worm, Dracunculus medinensis. Disease (GWD), is an infection caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis. Dracunculus insignis is not zoonotic, but a relative, Dracunculus medinensis (the Guinea worm), found in Africa and the Middle East, is the cause of dracunculiasis in people. Dogs infected with the parasite can be treated by placing the affected limb in water, encouraging the adult female to emerge, and/or by dissection and removal of adult worms.
The worm is found to be about 2 3 feet in length. Guinea worm larvae develop inside little water fleas called copepods.The disease of Dracunculus Medinensis can be described in latin as disturbance with little dragon. Although they readily ingested copepods, neither species of fish, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) nor fathead minnow (Pimephalis promelas), were found to harbor Dracunculus larvae when examined 23 weeks later.When The Carter Center began leading the campaign to eradicate Guinea worm in 1986, there were an estimated 3.5 million cases of the disease in 20 countries.
The life cycle of the parasite starts in fresh water where the Guinea worm larvae develop inside little water fleas called copepods. It can also lead to bacterial infections that are hard to treat, therefore increasing the pain and disability associated with the disease. Although Guinea worm disease is rarely fatal, it can cause crippling disability. Dracunculiasis is caused by the parasitic worm Dracunculus medinensis.Guinea worm is now found in remote areas of Africa such as parts of Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan. If the worm is not fully removed it can create an intense inflammatory reaction.
They then develop into adult worms.Over the next 10-14 months the adult female worms grow up to a metre in length and as wide as a piece of spaghetti. Male and female larvae migrate through the body and mate 60-90 days later. They then move to the small intestine and penetrate the wall of intestine entering the body cavity. Once inside the stomach, the copepods are digested and the larvae are set free. By drinking the water contaminated with these parasite-infected copepods, they are inadvertently taking the Guinea worm larvae into their bodies.
Contact with water releases lots and lots of larvae back into the water supply.A Guinea worm being extracted from the leg using a matchstick. This burning feeling compels individuals to immerse the affected limb in water, which is exactly what the worm wants. This blister causes an incredibly painful, burning feeling, hence the name Dracunculus or ‘little dragon’, and bursts after about 24-72 hours. This triggers an immune response in the host that results in the creation of a blister on the skin.
In remote areas of Africa where Guinea worm is generally found, these infections can be very difficult to treat and are sometimes fatal.It is possible that the common symbol of medicine (snakes coiled around a staff) could be based on early representations of the process used to remove Guinea worm.A girl drinking water through a pipe filter. This can lead to bacterial infections that, in severe cases, have the potential to kill the host.Even after the worm is removed from the body, bacterial infections can be very commonEven after the worm is removed from the body, bacterial infections can be very common because the wound has been open for several weeks. The extraction of the worm from the open blister can also introduce bacteria into the body.
Dracunculus Medinensis Removal Full Size And Emerge
This can be quite a challenge, not only because the worms take a year to grow to full size and emerge, but also because some communities in Africa migrate hundreds of miles every year, or live in the middle of conflict zones.The rapid decline in the number of cases of Guinea worm disease led many to believe that the problem of the little dragon had been solved, so very few scientists now work on Guinea worm. This has contained the disease and prevented contamination of drinking water with parasite larvae. This means that every time there is a case of an infection, an investigation is carried out to try to find out where the worm came from. Image Credit: Emily Howard Staub / CDC / The Carter CenterActive surveillance is being carried out in all countries that still have Guinea worm.
If the necessary standards are met they then recommend to the International Commission for Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication (ICCDE) that the country is certified free of the parasite. Once they’ve done this, the World Health Organization (WHO) sends a team of experts who independently check the findings. This means showing evidence of active surveillance over those three years to demonstrate that the surveillance system has been hunting for cases of Guinea worm disease over that time. This is the equivalent of three incubation periods for the Guinea worm. Poyo / CDC / The Carter Center What does eradication mean?Chad in Central Africa is one area that was thought to have completely eradicated Guinea worm as no cases were reported for an entire decade at the start of the 21st century.For a country to be certified as free of Guinea worm disease, it has to have a robust and comprehensive surveillance system in place and be able to provide proof that there have been no cases of the disease for three consecutive years. The instructor uses illustrations to talk about Guinea worm disease, its symptoms, and methods to avoid infection.
Reservoir dogsIn 2012 dogs infected with Guinea worms began to be detectedThe re-emergence of Guinea worm disease in Chad led to the establishment of new surveillance in the areas that had reported cases of the disease. However, this time there was an unusual difference in the pattern of Guinea worm infections not previously seen in Chad or other countries. Sure enough, Guinea worm disease was found once again in Chad in 2010. They therefore did not certify that the country was free of the disease.
It was unknown whether the infection in Chad was reintroduced by dogs or humans, or had just gone undetected for 10 years.Observations of infected dogs in Chad seem to suggest they cope with the worms better than humans. In contrast there have been far fewer human cases of Guinea worm disease. Historically, there have only been a few reports of non-human cases of Guinea worm but over 100 infected dogs were reported in 2014 and this number has increased in 2015.
Dog cases seem to be spreading southwards down the Chari River. Do the dogs serve as a reservoir for human infections that is somehow spilling over into people, or are the dogs infected with a different, distinct species of Dracunculus?The concern is that the dogs are now driving the spread of Guinea worm. This suggests that they are being exposed to greater numbers of Guinea worm larvae.The re-emergence of human infections, and appearance of dog infections in Chad has raised a number of questions about the possible association between the infections in people and dogs. Dogs also tend to be infected with more worms than humans at one time.
In this case, scientists suspect a host might be involved that lives in water such as fish or even tadpoles or frogs. This raises the question of whether a paratenic host might be channelling the infection to both dogs and people.Paratenic describes a host that is not essential for the development of a particular parasite but just serves as a place for it to sit until it can find its actual host. In fact, cases have been found outside the at-risk zone along the Chari River.
Smoking partiesFish feed on copepods, some of which may contain the Guinea worm larvae.
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