Bad For Guinea Worm, Great for Global Health

The Carter Foundation has announced substantial progress toward the goal of eradicating Guinea worm by 2030.
 
In 2020—despite the pandemic—human Guinea worm cases fell to just 27 worldwide. That’s a 50% drop from the previous year.
 
Transmitted by water fleas, the parasite causes extremely painful blisters as well as fever, rash, and sickness. Since ancient times, the cure has been the same: slowly extracting the worm by winding it around a stick.
 
The heroes of this progress aren’t vaccines or pharmaceuticals, but low-tech interventions operated by paid local staff, including education programs, infection surveillance, and water filtration to root out the water fleas.
 
BugBitten