The New Road

Guinea worm disease

Warning: Don't read the material below if you are squeemish.

I finished reading Carter's new book last night. There are several new insights that I gained from it. The larger points have to sink in. But some of the shorter sniglets really got me. In particular was his work on the Guinea worm disease:

Once it infects a person, the guinea worm migrates through their body. It eventually emerges from the body (through the feet in 90% of cases) causing intensely painful edema (swelling), a blister and then an ulcer. Perforation of the skin by the guinea worm, which can be 6 feet long, is accompanied by fever and nausea and vomiting. Infected persons may remain sick for some months.

The disease is gotten by drinking water contaminated with the infected intermediate hosts of the parasite, called cyclops. The full-grown guinea worm begins to migrate throughout the infected person's body within about a year after ingestion. In areas where the disease is endemic (pervasive), it typically reappears every year during the agricultural season, with farmers in particular being affected.

There are no drugs to treat the disease. Prevention of the disease is based on effective surveillance systems; the provision of safe water including appropriate water supply systems, filtering devices and the chemical treatment of water to eliminate the vector; and health education.

Of course, that's the cold clinical story. Where it really gets you is when he talks about his meeting with a attractive young woman who had one of these worms burrowing out of her breast. Only to find later that she was infected with 11 of these worms.

What is really disheartening to me is that this disease could easily be eradicated. Private organizations are working on the problem. But our government has pledged it's help with both money and resources then failed to deliver. Just like New Orleans, a failed promise is worse than no promise at all because private citizens can always make up the shortfall if they know the government won't be involved.