What’s Dracunculiasis?
Dracunculiasis, also called Guinea Worm illness, is attributable to the parasitic roundworm – Dracunculus medinensis. The which means of Dracunculiasis in Latin is ‘ with little dragons.’
The identify feels like one thing from a fantasy novel, however the signs could be brutal. Individuals with dracunculiasis really feel an intense burning sensation when the worms exit from the contaminated web site. The illness is just not deadly. Nevertheless, it could incapacitate contaminated individuals for an prolonged time period, leaving them unable to deal with themselves and their households [1].
In keeping with the World Well being Group, within the Nineteen Eighties, this uncared for tropical illness (NTD) was endemic to twenty nations. In October 1993, Pakistan was the first nation to eradicate dracunculiasis. It took virtually a decade of dracunculiasis eradication packages to attain this feat. The campaigns included rigorous preventive surveillance, water filtration efforts, larvicide, and schooling [2].
In 1996, India grew to become the second nation to eradicate Guinea worm illness. Nigeria, the world’s most endemic nation, acquired its certificates of dracunculiasis elimination in 2013. Ghana, the second most endemic nation within the Nineties, adopted go well with shortly and was licensed freed from dracunculiasis transmission in 2015 [3].
Quickly, dracunculiasis often is the second human illness, after smallpox, to be fully eradicated. The illness stays primarily in distant and rural Africa in areas with contaminated consuming water [4].
