Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsSymptomsCausesDiagnosisTreatmentPreventionCoping
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Causes
Diagnosis
Treatment
Prevention
Coping
Dracunculiasis, or Guinea worm disease, is an extremely rare neglected tropical disease primarily affecting remote and impoverished communities in parts of Africa. People become infected with the parasitic worm after drinking contaminated water or eating undercooked fish or other aquatic animals. After about a year, the worm breaks through the skin, causing itchy, burning blisters, often on the feet or legs.
This article will discuss the symptoms and causes of Guinea worm disease, as well as treatment and removing the parasite. It will go over global prevention and eradication measures and coping with the condition.
A. Poyo/CDC/The Carter Center
What Are the Symptoms of Guinea Worm Disease?
People infected with Guinea worm don’t typically have any symptoms until about a year after they’re first infected. It’s not until the worm is about to erupt from the skin that people start to feel sick. What that happens, the symptoms of Guinea worm disease can include:
Guinea worm disease isn’t often deadly, but it can cause serious complications, lifelong disabilities, and financial hardship for those involved. The pain involved is often so intense, it’s difficult for people to work, go to school, or care for themselves or others. This lasts an average of 8.5 weeks, though lifelong disability is common.
How Can People Get Guinea Worm Disease?
These small crustaceans (known as copepods or water fleas) live in stagnant water and eat the Guinea worm larvae. Inside, the larvae go through changes, and after two weeks, they are ready to be infective.
When people drink water that has been contaminated with the copepods, the copepods die and release the larvae into the human digestive tract. There, they make their way through the infected person’s stomach and intestinal walls, eventually reachingsubcutaneous tissues(the space just beneath the skin).
The larvae stay in the body for about a year as they mature into adult worms. Female adults can grow to be about 24–39 inches (60–100 centimeters) long. After mating, a worm starts to make its way toward the skin, causing physical discomfort.
The itching and burning can become so intense that people rush to submerge the infected part in water to get relief. Every time they do, the female adult worm breaks through the skin to discharge her immature larvae back out into the freshwater, starting the whole cycle again. After about two to three weeks, the female runs out of larvae, and eventually dies and becomes calcified in the body if it’s not removed.
The disease is largely seasonal, striking more frequently during the rainy or dry season, depending on the area, and is not spread from person to person.
Learn About the Various Types of Parasites and Their Symptoms
Guinea worm disease is diagnosed through a simple physical exam. Healthcare providers look for the telltale white, stringy worm poking through the blister once the affected area has been immersed in water.
There are currently no diagnostic tests available to identify those infected before symptoms appear.
What Is the Treatment for Guinea Worm Disease?
Like many neglected tropical diseases, there is no cure or specific medication to treat Guinea worm disease. De-worming medications used for other parasitic infections don’t appear to work to treat Guinea worm infections or prevent symptoms from occurring. Instead, treatment typically involves removing the worm through a long and painstaking process:
Medications like ibuprofen can be given to reduce swelling and relieve the pain involved. Antibiotic ointment can also be applied to the affected areas to prevent a bacterial infection.
The copepods that carry the Guinea worm larvae are too small to be seen without the help of a magnifying glass, but they’re big enough to be easily removed from the water using a cloth or pipe filter.
Water sources can also be treated using a larvicide that kills the copepods and, as a result, the Guinea worm larvae. To protect drinking water supplies, those with blisters or partially removed worms should steer clear of fresh water drinking sources.
Preparing for Emergencies
Fish and other aquatic animals coming from potentially contaminated water sources should also be cooked thoroughly before they are eaten. These animals sometimes eat infected copepods. Cooking their meat at a high temperature will kill off the larvae lurking inside. House pets, such as dogs, should never be given uncooked fish entrails or other foods scraps either.
People can become infected with Guinea worm multiple times over the course of their lives. Until Guinea worm is officially eradicated from the planet, communities at risk have to continue to be vigilant to prevent the disease from making a comeback.
Guinea Worm Eradication Programs
Guinea worm disease has been around for thousands of years, but it’s now on the verge of being eradicated. There were just 30 cases of Guinea worm disease in all of 2017—down 99.9% from more than3 millionin 1986. In 2023, there were only 14 cases reported in humans. That year, the disease was found in only a few countries: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, and South Sudan.
One potential holdup is the infection of other animals perpetuating the life cycle of the worm in drinking water sources. Guinea worm affects dogs, for example, much like humans. Dogs take in the infected copepods through contaminated food or water, the larvae grow and mature into adult worms inside the dogs' bodies, and then, ultimately, erupt through the skin to release new larvae into water sources, where they can continue to affect humans.
Guinea worm disease is overwhelmingly a disease of poverty. It disproportionately affects the poorest of the poor who lack access to safe drinking water and adequate medical care, and its debilitating and often lifelong effects keep people from working or going to school—in effect, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.
Guinea worm disease can be excruciating and significantly impact a person’s quality of life, but there are things you can do to reduce the pain involved and lower your chances of a permanent disability.
Summary
Symptoms of Guinea worm disease typically start about a year after infection. The parasite can break through the skin and cause painful blisters and open wounds, which risk getting infected. Removing the worm as soon as possible is essential for recovery. Pain relief medications and infection-preventing antibiotics may also be given.
8 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Biswas G, Sankara DP, Agua-Agum J, Maiga A.Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease): Eradication without a drug or a vaccine.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2013;368(1623):20120146. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0146Hopkins DR, Ruiz-Tiben E, Eberhard ML.Dracunculiasis eradication: Are we there yet?Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018;99(2):388–395. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.18-0204Ruiz-Tiben E.Dracunculiasis.Hunters Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Disease. 2013:841-845. doi:10.1016/b978-1-4160-4390-4.00114-4Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About Guinea worm.Merck Manuals.Dracunculiasis.The Carter Center.Guinea worm case totals.The Carter Center.Guinea worm disease reaches all-time low: Only 13 human cases reported in 2022.Galán-Puchades MT.WHO delays guinea-worm disease eradication to 2020: Are dogs the sole culprits?The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2017;17(11):1124-1125. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30565-0Additional ReadingHeymann D, ed.Control of communicable diseases manual. 19th ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 202:203.The Carter Center.Guinea worm eradication program.World Health Organization.Dracunculiasis: About guinea-worm disease.
8 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Biswas G, Sankara DP, Agua-Agum J, Maiga A.Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease): Eradication without a drug or a vaccine.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2013;368(1623):20120146. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0146Hopkins DR, Ruiz-Tiben E, Eberhard ML.Dracunculiasis eradication: Are we there yet?Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018;99(2):388–395. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.18-0204Ruiz-Tiben E.Dracunculiasis.Hunters Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Disease. 2013:841-845. doi:10.1016/b978-1-4160-4390-4.00114-4Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About Guinea worm.Merck Manuals.Dracunculiasis.The Carter Center.Guinea worm case totals.The Carter Center.Guinea worm disease reaches all-time low: Only 13 human cases reported in 2022.Galán-Puchades MT.WHO delays guinea-worm disease eradication to 2020: Are dogs the sole culprits?The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2017;17(11):1124-1125. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30565-0Additional ReadingHeymann D, ed.Control of communicable diseases manual. 19th ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 202:203.The Carter Center.Guinea worm eradication program.World Health Organization.Dracunculiasis: About guinea-worm disease.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Biswas G, Sankara DP, Agua-Agum J, Maiga A.Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease): Eradication without a drug or a vaccine.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2013;368(1623):20120146. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0146Hopkins DR, Ruiz-Tiben E, Eberhard ML.Dracunculiasis eradication: Are we there yet?Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018;99(2):388–395. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.18-0204Ruiz-Tiben E.Dracunculiasis.Hunters Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Disease. 2013:841-845. doi:10.1016/b978-1-4160-4390-4.00114-4Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About Guinea worm.Merck Manuals.Dracunculiasis.The Carter Center.Guinea worm case totals.The Carter Center.Guinea worm disease reaches all-time low: Only 13 human cases reported in 2022.Galán-Puchades MT.WHO delays guinea-worm disease eradication to 2020: Are dogs the sole culprits?The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2017;17(11):1124-1125. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30565-0
Biswas G, Sankara DP, Agua-Agum J, Maiga A.Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease): Eradication without a drug or a vaccine.Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 2013;368(1623):20120146. doi:10.1098/rstb.2012.0146
Hopkins DR, Ruiz-Tiben E, Eberhard ML.Dracunculiasis eradication: Are we there yet?Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2018;99(2):388–395. doi:10.4269/ajtmh.18-0204
Ruiz-Tiben E.Dracunculiasis.Hunters Tropical Medicine and Emerging Infectious Disease. 2013:841-845. doi:10.1016/b978-1-4160-4390-4.00114-4
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About Guinea worm.
Merck Manuals.Dracunculiasis.
The Carter Center.Guinea worm case totals.
The Carter Center.Guinea worm disease reaches all-time low: Only 13 human cases reported in 2022.
Galán-Puchades MT.WHO delays guinea-worm disease eradication to 2020: Are dogs the sole culprits?The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2017;17(11):1124-1125. doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(17)30565-0
Heymann D, ed.Control of communicable diseases manual. 19th ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 202:203.The Carter Center.Guinea worm eradication program.World Health Organization.Dracunculiasis: About guinea-worm disease.
Heymann D, ed.Control of communicable diseases manual. 19th ed. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 202:203.
The Carter Center.Guinea worm eradication program.
World Health Organization.Dracunculiasis: About guinea-worm disease.
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