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Dracunculiasis (Guinea-worm disease)

WHO/Liba Taylor
  • Dracunculiasis is a crippling parasitic disease on the verge of eradication, with 15 human cases reported in 2021.
  • From the time infection occurs, it takes between 10–14 months for the transmission cycle to complete until a mature worm emerges from the body.
  • The parasite is transmitted mostly  when people drink stagnant water contaminated with parasite-infected water fleas.
  • Dracunculiasis was endemic in 20 countries in the mid-1980s.
  • The total of 15 cases in 2021 were reported from four countries: Chad (8 cases), Ethiopia (1 case), Mali (2 cases) and South Sudan (4 cases) 

Dracunculiasis eradication portal

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