Nigeria may be declared guinea worm free in 2012

[TGD]

 NIGERIA is likely to be declared guinea worm free by May 2012 after three years of not recording any case of dracunculiasis. Dracunculiasis, more commonly known as guinea worm disease, is a crippling parasitic disease caused by Dracunculus medinensis, a long thread-like worm. It is transmitted exclusively when people drink water contaminated with parasite-infected water fleas.

Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, told The Guardian that a special team would be sent by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to help the Federal Ministry of Health to increase surveillance and make sure that the country did not record any case.

Chukwu said the crippling parasitic disease was on the verge of eradication. Only four countries in Africa still report cases of the ailment.

The minister added: "Part of what we are doing now is that we have increased surveillance. Before any country is declared guinea worm free, she must not have reported any case of guinea worm for three consecutive years. By May 2012 it will be three years that Nigeria has not had any case of guinea worm. Part of the certification process is that a special WHO team will come in to authenticate our data and declare Nigeria guinea worm free. So by May 2012 the country should be declared guinea worm free by the WHO."

According to the WHO, guinea worm is on the verge of eradication with fewer than 1,800 cases reported in 2010.

A WHO fact sheet on guinea worm reads: "During the mid 1980s there were an estimated 3.5 million cases in 20 countries worldwide, 16  of which were in Africa. The number of reported cases declined throughout the 1990s to reach fewer than 10,000 cases in 2007. This number dropped further to 4,619 in 2008, then to 3,190 in 2009 and to 1,797 in 2010.

"As of 2011, the yearly incidence of the disease has decreased by more than 99 per cent, compared to the mid 1980s. Currently, the only reported cases have been in Chad, Ethiopia, Mali and South Sudan.

"The new state of South Sudan alone accounts for 97 per cent of cases. However, obstacles like funding and access to disease-endemic areas remain in the path of total eradication."



The Guardian