Guinea worm

5 Stories

We're Closer Than Ever to Realizing Jimmy Carter's Dream

Only 13 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in 2022

(Newser) - The planet got incrementally closer to eradicating Guinea worm disease last year. The Carter Center on Tuesday announced there were just 13 cases of the disease reported worldwide in 2022, down two from the year prior for a 13% drop (the initial count of 14 was later confirmed to be...

Awful Parasitic Disease Is Nearly Eradicated

Only 30 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported last year

(Newser) - A new report says the world is moving closer to eradicating Guinea worm disease, in which a meter-long worm slowly emerges from a blister in a person's skin. The US-based Carter Center, which leads the eradication campaign, says just 30 cases were reported last year in isolated areas of...

From 3.5M Cases to Just 25: a Disease Nearly Vanquished

Jimmy Carter's efforts to fight Guinea worm disease have left just 3 countries affected

(Newser) - Jimmy Carter, who's been working for decades to eradicate Guinea worm disease, says only 25 human cases of the illness were reported worldwide in 2016. When the Carter Center joined the battle to eliminate Guinea worm disease in the mid-1980s, there were about 3.5 million cases in 21...

We've Only Wiped Out One Human Disease—Until Now
We've Only Wiped Out One Human Disease—Until Now
in case you missed it

We've Only Wiped Out One Human Disease—Until Now

Guinea worm cases down 99%

(Newser) - The guinea worm is set to go the way of smallpox, becoming the second human disease to be fully wiped out—thanks in part to work by Jimmy Carter's Carter Center. "We are approaching the demise of the last guinea worm who will ever live on Earth,"...

Docs Close to Stamping Out Guinea Worm

Worldwide campaign may eradicate the second disease ever

(Newser) - In a campaign led by Jimmy Carter, world public health authorities have decreased the incidence of guinea worm disease (formally known as dracunculiasis) from 3.5 million cases in 1986 to just over 25,000 in 2006. Guinea worm is a parasite transmitted through water to humans that causes excruciating...

5 Stories