Wüstenschiff

Die Uhr für den Guineawurm tickt: Bald soll der üble Parasit ausgerottet sein - als zweite Krankheit nach den Pocken. Doch die letzten Meter werden schwierig. Die Ausrottung des Guineawurms steht unmittelbar bevor. Über Jahrtausende hat dieser Parasit, der auch Drachen-, Pharao- oder Medinawurm genannt wird, Menschen in Afrika, Asien und im Nahen Osten geplagt. Obwohl es kein Medikament und keinen Impfstoff gibt, gelang es, die Infektionsfälle in den letzten 25 Jahren allein durch Aufklärung, Verhaltensänderungen und Kontrolle massiv zurückzudrängen – von 3,5 Millionen infizierten Menschen im Jahr 1986 auf 1060 Fälle im Jahr 2011 laut der WHO. Zurzeit kommt der parasitische Fadenwurm, mit dem sich der Mensch über das Trinkwasser infiziert, nur noch im Süden des Sudan, in Mali und in Äthiopien vor. Will man den Parasiten jedoch gänzlich von der Erde vertreiben, muss das jetzt geschehen. Sonst, so fürchten manche Experten, könnte sich die Krankheit bei sinkender finanzieller und politischer Unterstützung erneut verbreiten ...

Ein übler Geselle kurz vor dem Aus
24.07.2012 - spektrum

Gruß
Birgitt

DRACUNCULIASIS - UGANDA: (KITGUM) SUSPECTED
*******************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org

Date: Thu 26 Sep 2013
Source: New Vision (Uganda) [edited]
http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/647692- ... itgum.html


Doctors in Kitgum are investigating a report of suspected outbreak of guinea worm disease (GWD) [dracunculiasis] in the district 10 years after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Uganda a guinea worm-free country.

The suspected case was reported last week [week ending 22 Sep 2013] in Akara Labot-lwonga village, Pajong parish in Mucwini Sub County where a 72-year-old woman exhibited prospective signs and symptoms of the disease also called dracunculiasis.

The case-patient, who first suffered from the parasitic disease 15 years ago explained that she develops constant fever, swelling, and pain on her left foot -- very similar to signs she once experienced.

"Our water sources are contaminated and I suspect the blisters on my foot may turn out to be guinea worm. This is also how I developed the earlier infection," said the patient.

GWD is an infection that affects poor communities in remote parts of Africa who drink water contaminated by water fleas that host the dracunculus larva.

[Byline: Dominic Ochola, Richard Otto]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-EAFR
<promed-eafr@promedmail.org>

[According to the WHO, guinea worm is transmitted exclusively by drinking stagnant water contaminated with tiny water fleas that carry infective guinea worm larvae. Humans are the only known reservoirs for the disease. Following infection, a painful blister forms [usually on the lower leg] followed by the emergence of one or more worms from the blister, about one year after the infection (http://www.who.int/dracunculiasis/en/).

Guinea worm [dracunculiasis] is one of the diseases targeted for eradication globally through interventions like ensuring access to safe drinking-water supplies, filtration of drinking water to prevent infection, intense surveillance and control to detect every case within 24 hours of the emergence of the worm(s), treatment of ponds with the larvicide temephos that kills the water fleas, and promoting health education and behaviour change (http://www.who.int/dracunculiasis/en/).

Currently, the disease is endemic in 4 counties including South Sudan [that shares a border with Kitgum district, Uganda], Ethiopia, Mali and Chad, from where 90 cases have been reported since January 2013, representing a decline of 72 percent from the cases reported during the corresponding period of 2012. A guinea worm case was recently confirmed in South Darfur, Sudan, at the border with Western Bahr el Ghazal, Sudan, indicating ongoing transmission in the region. (http://www.who.int/dracunculiasis/dracu ... index.html).

Additional information from epidemiological and laboratory investigations into the suspect guinea worm case reported in Kitgum will be appreciated.

Uganda was certified Guinea worm free in 2009.

The HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map of Uganda can be seen at http://healthmap.org/r/1Yil. Kitgum district in northern Uganda can be located on the map at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Districts_of_Uganda. - Mod.JFW

It is important to stress that the patient is only suspected of having guinea worm, and that the diagnosis has not been confirmed. Also, as pointed out, Kitgum borders South Sudan, where guinea worm is still found, and it is important to know whether there is a travel history to South Sudan in this case.

If the patient has guinea worm and was reinfected in Uganda, it shows that the infection has not been eradicated, and surveillance for other cases should commence. - Mod.EP]

DRACUNCULIASIS - GUINEA WORM ERADICATION PROGRESS
*************************************************
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org

Date: Thu 16 Jan 2014
Source: Carter Center [edited]
http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/gw- ... n2014.html


The Carter Center announced today [16 Jan 2014] that 148 Guinea worm cases were reported worldwide in 2013. These provisional numbers, reported by ministries of health in the remaining 4 endemic nations and compiled by the Center, show that cases of the debilitating disease were reduced by 73 percent in 2013 compared to 542 cases in 2012.

When the Center began leading the 1st international campaign to eradicate a parasitic disease, there were an estimated 3.5 million Guinea worm cases occurring annually in Africa and Asia. "As we near the finish line in this eradication campaign, The Carter Center and its partners remain committed to ending the devastating suffering caused by Guinea worm disease, recognizing that the final cases of any eradication campaign are the most challenging and most expensive to eliminate," said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

In 1991, when the number of endemic villages reached its peak, there were 23 735 villages in 21 countries in Africa and Asia reporting Guinea worm disease. In 2013, there were only 63 endemic villages in 4 countries, all in Africa.

South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, reported 113 cases or 76 percent of the worldwide case total in 2013. Most of those cases were in Eastern Equatoria state. The remaining indigenous cases in 2013 were reported in isolated areas of Chad (14), Mali (11), and Ethiopia (7). Under investigation are 3 cases reported in Sudan along the South Sudan-Sudan border.

Considered a neglected tropical disease, Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis) is contracted when people consume water contaminated with Guinea worm larvae. After a year, a meter-long worm slowly emerges from the body through a painful blister in the skin. In the absence of a vaccine or medical treatment, the ancient disease is being wiped out mainly through community-based interventions to educate and change behavior, such as teaching people to filter all drinking water and preventing contamination by keeping anyone with an emerging worm from entering water sources.

The Carter Center together with its partners, ministries of health, and local communities, has reduced cases by more than 99.9 percent since 1986. The Center estimates that the eradication campaign has averted more than 80 million cases among the world's poorest and most neglected people. Guinea worm disease is positioned to be the 2nd human disease, after smallpox, to be eradicated.

"The final Guinea worm-endemic areas are not random," said Dr. Donald R. Hopkins, Carter Center vice president for health programs and head of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication. "These last countries continue to have Guinea worm cases because of geographic remoteness, insecurity, or inadequate political will."

The South Sudan Guinea Worm Eradication Program reported 113 cases in January-November 2013 compared to 520 cases for the same period in 2012, a reduction of 78 percent. Until political and ethnic hostilities broke out on 15 Dec 2013, the program had reported no cases for that month. The current insecurity is not occurring in the country's most endemic area and coincides with the lowest transmission season for the disease there.

"South Sudan's Guinea Worm Eradication Program has overcome exceptional challenges while reducing cases by 99 percent since 2006. The program operated at its highest level in 2013, and we expect the team's hard work to bear fruit this year [2014]," said Dr. Hopkins. "Immediate and sustained peace is critical to restore the program's momentum and resume full operational surveillance and supervision to prevent any transmission in 2014."

The Carter Center has worked with the people of Sudan and South Sudan for nearly 3 decades to improve health and resolve conflict. The Center also observed national elections in 2010 and witnessed the birth of South Sudan during its referendum in 2011. In 2014, The Carter Center continues to fight neglected diseases (Guinea worm, river blindness, and trachoma) and encourage dialogue between the 2 countries to create a lasting peace.

In Ethiopia, the federal ministry, including the minister of health, redoubled its efforts to stop transmission by the end of 2014 in the only remaining Guinea worm-endemic area, the Gambella region. In Chad, the program continued to investigate the unusual epidemiology of its Guinea worm cases in 2013, and the government is preparing additional control measures to address remaining transmission. In Mali, insecurity that began in April 2012 continues to delay interruption of Guinea worm disease transmission because the national program has not been able to operate fully and consistently in all of its Guinea worm-endemic regions. In 2013, the program was partially operational in 3 regions and not at all operational in one region due to insecurity.

The Carter Center leads the international Guinea worm eradication campaign and works in close partnership with national programs, the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), UNICEF, and many other partners. The Carter Center provides technical and financial assistance to national Guinea worm eradication programs to interrupt transmission of the disease. CDC provides technical assistance and verifies whether worms from these final patients are truly Guinea worms or not.

The presence of Guinea worm disease in a geographic area indicates abject poverty, including the absence of safe drinking water; UNICEF mainly assists countries by providing safe sources of drinking water to priority areas identified by the national Guinea worm eradication programs. WHO also helps countries prepare for certification and assists them to develop or strengthen surveillance in Guinea worm-free areas. The WHO is the only organization that can officially certify the eradication of a disease.

After transmission is interrupted in individual countries, the WHO's International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication (ICCDE) sends certification teams to assess whether transmission of the disease continues or whether it has been stopped for 3 or more years after the last indigenous case has been reported.

In December 2013, the ICCDE recommended that 5 additional countries be certified by the WHO as free of Guinea worm disease, bringing the total to 197 countries and territories. Of the newly recommended counties, Cote d'Ivoire, Niger, and Nigeria were endemic when the Guinea worm eradication campaign began and have worked since then with The Carter Center and others to stop transmission of Guinea worm disease in their nations. When the campaign began, Nigeria had more than 650 000 of the estimated 3.5 million Guinea worm cases worldwide, more than any other country. The other 2 nations recommended for certification in 2013, South Africa and Somalia, did not have endemic transmission of Guinea worm disease during the current campaign but had not been certified previously as Guinea worm-free.

For a disease to be eradicated, every country must be certified, even if transmission has never taken place there.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[This indeed is good news and shows that the steady control efforts are providing results. It is a concern that the present unrest in countries like South Sudan and Mali may cause underreporting of cases. For more information on Guinea worm infection (dracunculiasis), see http://www.who.int/dracunculiasis/en/. - Mod.EP

A HealthMap/ProMED-mail map can be accessed at: http://healthmap.org/r/1zjH.]

Ein fast besiegter Parasit findet ein Refugium - nun rätseln Fachleute, wie sie mit der unerwarteten Wendung umgehen sollen.

Der Guineawurm, ein dank effektiver Bekämpfung nahezu besiegter Parasit, wird derzeit auf unerwartetem Wege vor der endgültigen Vernichtung bewahrt: in seinen letzten Rückzugsgebieten der westlichen Sahelzone infiziert er nun Haustiere. Während sich im gesamten letzten Jahr nur noch 25 Menschen mit dem schmerzhaften Schmarotzer infizierten, vermeldeten die Behörden im Tschad bereits 450 Infektionen bei Hunden. Weshalb der bis zu 80 Zentimeter lange Wurm neuerdings in Hunden auftaucht, ist bisher nicht bekannt, Fachleute vermuten aber, dass ein Teil der menschlichen Infektionen inzwischen vom neuen Wirt ausgeht. Die mysteriöse Epidemie gefährdet den Erfolg der Kampagne gegen den Guineawurm – denn so lange der Parasit sich in Hunden versteckt hält, kann er auch wieder im Menschen ausbreiten.

Hunde retten den Guineawurm
05.01.2016 - spektrum

Gruß
Birgitt

Guineawurm-Infektionen gingen im letzten Jahr weltweit auf kaum mehr als ein Dutzend zurück und kommen damit dem Traum des ehemaligen Präsidenten Jimmy Carter näher, die Krankheit noch zu seinen Lebzeiten vollständig auszurotten. Das Carter Center berichtete am Mittwoch, dass im gesamten Jahr 2021 nur 14 Fälle von Guinea-Wurm-Krankheit beim Menschen gemeldet wurden, das Ergebnis jahrelanger öffentlicher Gesundheitskampagnen zur Verbesserung des Zugangs zu sauberem Trinkwasser in Afrika ...

Guinea worm cases drop to 14 – close to Jimmy Carter’s goal of 0
26.01.2022 - Aljazeera

Gruß
Birgitt

Der Guineawurm hat 2021 nur noch eine Hand voll Menschen infiziert. Jetzt gilt es, auch die tierischen Reservoire trockenzulegen ...

Während der Erreger der Covid-19-Pandemie sich derzeit ausbreitet wie nie zuvor, steht der Auslöser einer anderen Krankheit kurz vor dem Aussterben: Gerade einmal 14 Fälle einer Infektion mit dem Guineawurm wurden im Jahr 2021 gemeldet. Das ist die niedrigste Zahl, die je erfasst wurde. Noch in den 1980er Jahren trat der Parasit, der schmerzhafte Hautläsionen verursacht, in mehr als 20 Ländern auf und befiel damals jährlich 3,5 Millionen Menschen [...] Ob der Wurm sich allerdings auf absehbare Zeit komplett ausrotten lassen wird, ist fraglich. Denn noch immer vermehrt er sich in Haus- und Wildtieren, und das mache seine Kontrolle und Bekämpfung schwierig, erklären Experten. Mit dem Guineawurm infizieren sich neben Menschen auch einige Tiere, darunter Katzen, Hunde und Paviane, wenn sie Wasser trinken, das mit Larven des Wurms verunreinigt ist.

Ausrottung des Guineawurms: Von 3,5 Millionen auf 14
14.02.2022 - spektrum

Gruß
Birgitt