Sudan Push to Eradicate Guinea Worm Infection

by Sreeraman on  February 17, 2010 at 5:34 PM Tropical Disease News
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Scars on Severion Wayet's arms reveal where the flesh-burrowing Guinea worms burst through her skin.

It was an agonising process that lasted days as the worms, measuring around one metre (three feet) in length, fought their way out of her body.

"They were very painful, you cannot rest or sleep," the young mother said, her baby resting on her back in a goatskin carrying pouch.

Her village of Lojura, a remote settlement in the hot, dusty bush of south Sudan's Central Equatoria state, already has enough to deal with following a brutal civil war that ended just five years ago.

But it is also one of the world's worst areas for Guinea worm.

Also known as dracunculiasis, from the Latin for "little dragons", the worm is a particularly painful water-borne parasite that can leave people weakened and sick for months every year.

Caught by drinking contaminated water, the worm larvae grow into wriggling creatures up to a metre in length, and mate inside the human body.

After about a year, the white worms dig through the body towards the skin, releasing chemicals to burn the flesh and then spewing thousands of larvae as they exit.

"Many people have suffered from the worms, but we want them to end," said Wayet. "I do not want my children to suffer like that."

Now a final drive is being made to eradicate the worms for good.

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