Progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis, January 2009-June 2010.
[dracunculiasis]
In 1986, the World Health Assembly (WHA) called for the elimination of dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease), a parasitic infection in humans caused by Dracunculus medinensis. At the time, an estimated 3.5 million cases were occurring annually in 20 countries in Africa and Asia, and 120 million persons were at risk for the disease. Because of slow mobilization in countries with endemic disease, the 1991 WHA goal to eradicate dracunculiasis globally by 1995 was not achieved. In 2004, WHA established a new target date of 2009 for global eradication; despite considerable progress, that target date also was not met. This report updates both published and previously unpublished data and updates progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis since January 2009. At the end of December 2009, dracunculiasis remained endemic in four countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, and Sudan). The number of indigenous cases of dracunculiasis worldwide had decreased 31%, from 4,613 in 2008 to 3,185 in 2009. Of the 766 cases that occurred during January--June 2010, a total of 745 (97%) were reported from 380 villages in Sudan. Ghana, Ethiopia, and Mali each are close to interrupting transmission, as indicated by the small and declining number of cases. The current target is to complete eradication in all four countries as quickly as possible. Insecurity (e.g., sporadic violence or civil unrest) in areas of Sudan and Mali where dracunculiasis is endemic poses the greatest threat to the success of the global dracunculiasis eradication program.
