When the worm perforates the skin, intolerable pain is accompanied by fever, nausea and vomiting. Partial or total disability can last from several weeks in isolated cases up to, in most cases, several months. The disease is transmitted through contaminated water, and nine out of ten people living in the depressed areas of Africa south of the Sahara still have nothing else to drink but meagre quantities of impure water, thus exposing themselves to serious diseases such as dracunculiasis. When an infected person steps into the local water hole, the terrible burning sensation caused by the emerging worm is relieved. Acting as an intermediate host the cyclop is absorbed by human beings as they drink the contaminated water causing the disease to perpetuate.
Guinea worm causes dreadful suffering and disability among the world's most deprived people.
The disease reappears each year during the agricultural season. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, C te d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Yemen. For further information, journalists can contact Gregory Hartl, Health Communications and Public Relations, WHO, Geneva.