Dracunculiasis, more commonly known as Guinea worm disease
(GWD), is a preventable infection caused by the parasite
Dracunculus medinensis. Infection affects poor communities in
remote parts of Africa that do not have safe water to drink.
Adult female Dracunculus worms emerge from the skin of Infected
persons annually. Persons with worms protruding through the skin
may enter sources of drinking water and unwittingly allow the worm
to release larvae into the water. These larvae are ingested by
fresh water copepods ("water fleas") where these develop into the
infective stage in 10-14 days. Persons become infected by drinking
water containing the water fleas harboring the infective stage
larvae of Dracunculus medinensis.
Once inside the body, the stomach acid digests the water flea, but
not the Guinea worm. These larvae find their way to the small
intestine, where they penetrate the wall of the intestine and pass
into the body cavity. During the next 10-14 months, the female
Guinea worm grows to a full size adult 60-100 centimeters (2-3
feet) long and as wide as a cooked spaghetti noodle, and migrates
to the site where she will emerge, usually the lower limbs.
A blister develops on the skin at the site where the worm will
emerge. This blister causes a very painful burning sensation and it
will eventually (within 24-72 hours) rupture. For relief, persons
will immerse the affected limb into water, or may just walk in to
fetch water. When someone with a Guinea worm ulcer enters the
water, the adult female releases a milky white liquid containing
millions of immature larvae into the water, thus contaminating the
water supply. For several days after it has emerged from the ulcer,
the female Guinea worm is capable of releasing more larvae whenever
it comes in contact with water.
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