Guinea worm disease
A parasitic disease caused by infection with the guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis), the largest parasite known to plague people. Guinea worm disease is also called Dracunculiasis and end-of-the-road disease because it is not seen in the big cities.
Once it infects a person, the guinea worm migrates through their body. It eventually emerges from the body (through the feet in 90% of cases) causing intensely painful edema (swelling), a blister and then an ulcer. Perforation of the skin by the guinea worm, which can be 6 feet long, is accompanied by fever and nausea and vomiting. Infected persons may remain sick for some months.
The disease is contracted by drinking water contaminated with the infected intermediate hosts of the parasite, called cyclops. The full-grown guinea worm begins to migrate throughout the infected person’s body within about a year after ingestion. In areas where the disease is endemic (pervasive), it typically reappears every year during the agricultural season, with farmers in particular being affected.
There are no drugs to treat the disease. Prevention of the disease is based on effective surveillance systems; the provision of safe water including appropriate water supply systems, filtering devices and the chemical treatment of water to eliminate the vector; and health education.
Guinea worm infection is the only parasitic disease that may, it is hoped, be eradicated from the globe in the near future. Although widely distributed at the beginning of the 20th century, it is now confined to sub-Saharan Africa. The countries known to harbor the guinea worm are Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Togo and Uganda. Two-thirds of the world’s estimated 100,000 annual cases of Guinea worm disease occur in war-torn Sudan, where peace is needed before aid workers can reach affected areas, mainly in the south. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation gave $28.5 million in 2000 to help eradicate Guinea worm disease by teaching people to boil water or strain it through cloth filters. The effort to finish off this disease is a project of WHO, World Bank and Jimmy Carter’s Foundation.
Read Also:
- Gulf War syndrome
A syndrome involving a constellation of illnesses experienced by 5,000 to 80,000 American veterans who were in the Gulf War. (The Veterans Administration considers those who served between August 2, 1990 and July 31, 1991 as “Gulf War Conflict” veterans.) Causes of Gulf War Syndrome are not yet well understood. Symptoms include fatigue, headache, muscle […]
- Gullet
The esophagus. The words esophagus and gullet differ in origin. Esophagus comes from the Greek whereas gullet is a diminutive of the Latin gula meaning throat. The idea was that the esophagus, being narrower than the throat, was the little throat.
- Gum disease
Inflammation of the soft tissue (gingiva) and abnormal loss of bone that surrounds the teeth and holds them in place. Gum disease is caused by toxins secreted by bacteria in “plaque” that accumulate over time along the gum line. This plaque is a mixture of food, saliva, and bacteria. Early symptoms of gum disease include […]
- Gustavson syndrome
A disorder first reported in 1999 by Gustavson and colleagues as a new X-linked mental retardation syndrome. In the family they studied there were 7 male children in 2 generations with the syndrome. The affected males were genealogically connected through females who were presumed to be carriers of the gene responsible for the syndrome. In […]
- Gustatory sweating
the lotion was applied to the skin of the forehead and face, sparing the eyes and mouth. See also Frey syndrome, diabetes.