Guinea-worm disease, or dracunculiasis, is a parasitic disease that is transmitted through drinking stagnant water that has been contaminated with a tiny parasite-infected flea. Once inside the body, the larvae can mature into worms that grow up to 1 metre in length.
Symptoms of guinea-worm disease do not usually occur until one year after infestation. A person may develop a fever, swelling and pain in the area where the adult worm is ready to come out. The location may vary but 90% of the worms come out in the legs and feet.
People in rural communities in the Region often do not have access to health care services. Removing the worm can take several days to several weeks. When the worm comes out of the skin, it can be very painful, slow and disabling. Secondary bacterial infections often develop as a result of open wounds. There is no drug to treat guinea-worm disease and no vaccine to prevent re-infection year-after-year.
Tremendous progress has been made in guinea-worm eradication efforts. The annual incidence has decreased from 892 640 in 1989 to 542 cases in 2012. Only four countries in the Region report incidence of guinea-worm disease: Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan.