Dracunculiasis -- Guinea-worm disease

 

"We think about President Carter's legacy [and his push to get to zero cases]." 

"These might not be seen as the No. 1 problems in the world, but they are the No. 1 problems for people that suffer from these diseases."

"So we continue to charge ourselves with his mission of alleviating as much pain and suffering as we can."

Adam Weiss, director, Carter Center Guinea worm eradication program 

 

"Dracunculus medinensis (D. medinensis), a type of parasitic worm, causes guinea worm disease. The larvae live in stagnant (nonmoving) water, like ponds or shallow wells. They infect copepods, bug-like crustaceans that are almost too tiny to see. Copepods are sometimes called water fleas."

"If you drink water that copepods live in, D. medinensis larvae can get into your stomach and intestines. They move through the walls of your insides to other parts of your body. Eventually (usually about a year later), an adult worm starts pushing its way through your skin. They need to get to the outside of your body to release eggs into water. Adults can grow up to 3 feet (1 meter), so it can take a long time for them to work their way out of your body."

Cleveland Clinic

 

 

In 2025, came the good news of a historic low in Guinea worm infections now seen only in three countries. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter who established The Carter Center with its mandate to eradicate the dread disease with its launching in the 1980s, was said to have wanted to outlive its eradication, to enjoy the completion of a goal he had set. Back then in the mid 1980s, the parasite was known to afflict millions of people in developing countries.

 

In the year just passed, four human cases were reported in Chad, four in Ethiopia and two in South Sudan. Animals too can become infected and among animals infections continue to number much higher but have slightly declined in some countries. There were 15 cases of Guinea worm reported in 2024 in Angola, Cameroon, and Central African Republic while Mali reported zero cases two years running.

 

If and when Guinea worm is finally eradicated, it will join smallpox as the only two human diseases that medical science succeeded in freeing the world from. The worm's larvae are laid in water, so the contaminated water becomes the vector in infecting people and animals who consume that water. Once the larvae enters the body it grows for a year and can grow up to a metre in length, with the diameter of spaghetti.

 

Once the worm has reached maturity it seeks to exit the host body and it does this through the medium of a blister. Depending on the length of the worm, its exit can take a long time, during which time excruciating pain wracks the infected person. When infected people -- or animals -- who suffer from the condition immerse themselves in water in an effort to ease their pain, the worm takes the opportunity to deposit its larvae, in an ongoing cycle. 

 

Infections can also occur when people consume fish or amphibious creatures that have themselves consumed the larvae. The Carter Center specializes in educating the public, training volunteers, and distributing water filters in affected areas. No treatment exists for Guinea worm, although medication can be used to alleviate pain and suffering.

 

The development of diagnostic tests is next on the agenda for the Carter Center's eradication program. The benefits of testing before an infected person or animal becomes symptomatic are linked to minimizing or eliminating opportunities for the worms to continue infecting water sources with their larvae.  

A jar containing Guinea worms AP file

"Imagine drinking a simple sip of water and unknowingly setting a timer for one of the most bizarre and painful biological ordeals on the planet. Guinea worm disease, caused by the parasite Dracunculus medinensis, has haunted humanity for millennia. Its modus operandi is as unsettling as it is intricate. The story of its near-eradication, led by the heroic efforts of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and a coalition of determined organizations, is a testament to what global cooperation can achieve—even without the aid of modern medical marvels like vaccines or miracle drugs."

"Guinea worm disease begins when someone in a rural, water-scarce region drinks from a stagnant pond teeming with tiny water fleas infected by Guinea worm larvae. Once ingested, these larvae migrate through the digestive tract, eventually pairing up for a little love in your body. While the male dies after its job is done (a grim version of “mate and die”), the fertilized female has big plans: she grows to about a meter long—yes, meter—and prepares to leave her host, which, unfortunately for us, involves excruciating pain."

"A year after infection, the female worm heads to the surface of the skin, creating a blister that feels like it’s on fire. Naturally, the victim seeks relief by submerging the affected body part in water. That’s the worm’s cue to release a soup of larvae, ensuring its species’ survival. The cycle begins anew, unless interventions like water filtration or behavior change interrupt it."

History of Vaccines tribute to former President Jimmy Carter 

 

 

Extinction Rebellion

"We have already documented pig occurrences less than ten miles from the U.S. border. Quite honestly, I think there have already been some in Manitoba going into North Dakota for the last five or six years."

"There is no physical biological boundary at the U.S.-Canada border. There is hardly any kind of fencing to speak of. There's a real risk of pigs moving south into the U.S."

"Wild hogs feed on anything. They gobble up tons and tons of goslings and ducklings in the spring. They can take down a whitetail deer, even an adult."

"Originally it was like, 'Wow, this is something we can hunt'. But it's become clear that they're threatening our whitetail deer, elk, and especially, waterfowl. Not to mention the crop damage. The downsides outweigh any benefit wild hogs may have as a huntable species."

Ryan Brook, Canadian Wild Pig Research Project, University of Saskatchewan 

Wild boars live in many places, from Europe to North America to the Far East. Hong Kong has a problem with wild boars becoming urbanized, just like coyotes. Humans have increasingly claimed territory that was the natural habitat of many animals. Some animals, like coyotes and wild pigs are highly intelligent and adaptable to their new situations, learning to thrive in urban areas that were once their forest habitat; think raccoons, those wily survivors who forage for food that humans waste.

And then there's the issue of people -- often people who should know better, like scientists -- deciding to encourage farmers to bring in species from elsewhere. Like kudzu brought to the southern U.S. from Japan as a ground cover whose roots would keep soil in place as an answer to soil erosion. Only to discover it is now impossible to control. Organisms sometimes arrive by ship covering the keels of ocean liners and spread to create problems where there are no natural predators and they compete successfully with native species.

Think Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades where they flourish with no natural enemies, there because exotic species owners found them too difficult to care for and dumped them in the Everglades where they thrived. Exotic Carp and eels native to Russia and China now proliferate in waters where they displace native species.

Wild pigs can migrate from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba to North Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho and Montana. However, the United States has its own struggle with wild pigs and it's possible that their giant population of pigs could easily infiltrate Canada. Millions of hogs populate areas of the United States.

"We haven't had any reports of any pigs coming across the Canadian border in the northwest part of the state", North Dakota's assistant wildlife division chief reported. These wild pigs are considered to be 'ecological train wrecks' given their rapacious appetite, destructive foraging habits and their capacity to consume just about any type of food; they are omnivorous.

Wild boars were brought into Canada from their European homes in the 1980s and '90s as potential game animals to be hunted and as well as an adjunct food source in Canada's foodstock population. They were considered viable livestock for farmers to invest in raising for a new food market. Expectations were dashed when the Canadian public turned out to be disinterested in products from wild hogs. Some of the domestic stock escaped and became feral pigs.

 

Wild pigs are prolific breeders, with sows producing around six piglets per year, meaning their population grows exponentially. In Canada, the range of wild pigs has been expanding by a staggering nine per cent a year since 1990. Photo: Supplied by Ryan Brook

 

 

Some livestock farmers simply released their stock to the wild when the market crashed, to fend for themselves. And fend for themselves they did. The present-day wild pigs are descendants of the Eurasian wild boars bred with domestic pigs to become hybrids. Their larger size and hairy bodies enabled them to withstand harsh Canadian winters in the wild. 

 

Their intelligence as survivors also served them well in avoiding efforts to eradicate them.Weighing between 120 and 250 pounds, well insulated from the weather, capable of finding food to sustain themselves, they burrow into 'pigloos', piles of rushes and snow to weather Canadian winters.

Research shows hunting actually accelerates the spread of wild pigs, as they flee to new areas to evade hunters. Photo: iStock

"During that time, [when wild boars were introduced to Canada from Europe from the 1980s to diversify foodstock], a lot of experts told farmers to cross their boars with domestic pigs, which are larger and reproduce more. Unfortunately, that created 'superpigs', because it super-charged their size and reproduction."

"Being larger helps them survive the cold winters [in Canada], and eventually created the ultimate invasion species.'

"If the boars hadn't been crossbred, they likely could still have been a problem, but this really super-charged them."

Ryan Brook, biologist, University of Saskatchewan