JOHANNESBURG (AP) – A new report says the world is moving closer to eradicating Guinea worm disease, in which a meter-long worm slowly emerges from a blister in a person’s skin.
The Carter Center, which leads the eradication campaign, says just 30 cases were reported last year in isolated areas of Ethiopia and Chad.
Mali has not reported any cases in 25 months, and civil war-torn South Sudan has reported no cases in 13 months. The Carter Center calls this a “major accomplishment.”
The report says all 15 cases in Ethiopia last year occurred at a farm where workers drank unfiltered water from a contaminated pond.
The incapacitating disease three decades ago affected more than 3 million people in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.