Sore Spot

Guinea Worm Disease

Dracunculiasis

The guinea worm is one of the best documented human parasites, with tales of its behavior reaching as far back as the second century BCE. It was once prevalent in 20 nations in Asia and Africa. This parasite remains endemic in six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The parasite will take on a human host.

Cause

Guinea worm disease is only contracted when a person drinks stagnant water contaminated with the larvae of the Guinea worm, or walks un-protected in infected waterways.

The larvae develop for approximately two weeks inside copepods. At this stage the larvae can cause Guinea worm disease if the infected larvae are not filtered from drinking water. Once inside the body stomach acid digests the copepods, but not the Guinea worm larvae sheltered inside. These larvae find their way to the body cavity where the female mates with a male Guinea worm. This will take place approximately three months after infection. The male worm dies after mating and is absorbed into the body. The female, which contains larvae, burrows into the deeper connective tissue or adjacent to long bones or joints of the extremities. The male Guinea worm is typically much smaller,1.2–2.9 centimeters, 0.5–1.1 inches long, than the female, which, as an adult, can grow to between 2 and 3 feet long and be as thick as a spaghetti noodle. Infected persons often immerse the affected limb in water to relieve the burning sensation caused when the guinea worm creates a blister to leave the body. Once the blister or open sore is submerged in water the adult female releases hundreds of thousands of Guinea worm larvae, contaminating the water supply

Symptoms

Infected persons do not usually have symptoms until about one year after they become infected. A few days to hours before the worm emerges, the person may develop a fever, swelling, and pain in the area.

Medication

There is no vaccine or medicine to treat or prevent Guinea worm disease. Once a Guinea worm emerges a person must wrap the live worm around a piece of gauze or a stick to extract it from the body. This long, painful process can take up to a month. Although Guinea worm disease is usually not fatal, the wound where the worm emerges could develop a secondary bacterial infection such as tetanus, which may be life-threatening, also if the worm breaks while you are extracting it, it will usually cause an infection in the area that could be fatal.

Sources
http://www.dhpe.org/infect/guinea.html