Guinea worm may soon be eliminated

Woah - I just realized how long it was since I last posted. Sorry folks. I've been consumed by work over the past two weeks. Fortunately, RTBH reader Stacey reminded me of a story I'd seen but was too tired to post! (Thanks, Stacey!) It's from the BBC, and it documents the progress made in preventing guinea worm infection. The worm is present in water in many poor countries - when people drink water containing guinea worm larvae, the little critters stay in their bodies and grow. They can reach a meter in length and eventually emerge from the skin - as you can imagine, it's extremely painful and disabling. There's no vaccine or treatment for the disease - you avoid it by filtering water and taking other precautions. Thankfully, through such measures, the disease has already been eliminated in many countries, and worldwide infection rates have dropped by 99% since 1986. 80% of all remaining cases are in Sudan. Former US president, Jimmy Carter, is spearheading the final push towards worldwide elimination - with additional support from the Gates Foundation and the UK government - and he thinks it could all be over within 2 years! That really would be quite an achievement... (Photo from BBC.)