Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
The World Health Organization announced on Friday that 10 cases of Guinea worm infection were reported in just three countries in 2025, a record low Carter Center.
The new logo comes just a year after the death of the former US president president jimmy carterwho often said he hoped to outlive Guinea worm. When the former president’s center launched an eradication program in the mid-1980s, the parasite was still plaguing millions of people in the developing world.
“We think about the legacy of President Carter” and his efforts to achieve zero cases, Adam Weiss, director of the center’s Guinea worm eradication program, said in an interview. “These may not be considered the number one problem in the world, but they are the number one problem for people living with these diseases. So we continue to make it our mission to alleviate pain and suffering as much as possible.”
In 2025, four human cases were reported in Chad, four in Ethiopia and two in South Sudan. Animal infections remain in the hundreds, declining in some countries but rising slightly overall, making it more difficult to predict when Guinea worm will be eradicated.
These 10 human cases are a 33% decrease from the 15 cases reported in 2024. Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Mali reported zero human cases for the second year in a row.
Guinea worm would join smallpox as the only two human diseases to be eradicated.
The worms are infected by drinking water containing the larvae. It then grows inside the infected person, reaching a length of one meter and a diameter the size of a spaghetti noodle. The worms then exit the body through the blisters, causing severe pain.
Infect The worms are spread when people with the disease sometimes immerse themselves in water to relieve symptoms – allowing the worms to lay larvae that others can eat. The same cycle occurs when land animals reach water sources. Humans can also become infected by eating fish or eating larvae of amphibians.
For decades, the Carter Center’s eradication program has worked with government health ministries and other organizations to educate the public, train volunteers and distribute water filters in affected areas.
There is no treatment for dracunculiasis, but people infected can take painkillers.
Weiss said the next step in the eradication plan is to develop diagnostic tests, particularly for animals. Testing an infected person or animal before they show symptoms can change their behavior to minimize or eliminate the chance of more larvae entering the water source.
The Carter Center said 147 cases of animal infections were reported in Chad in 2025, a 47% decrease from the former global epicenter of animal infections. Cameroon reported 445 cases, Angola 70, Mali 17, South Sudan 3 and Ethiopia 1.
Carter and his wife, Rosalyn, traveled to affected countries with Carter Center staff. world Health organizations, state ministries of health and local officials establish coordinated eradication efforts.
Weiss said President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization and withdraw funding and U.S. participation in a range of international aid efforts has forced some logistical changes to the center’s work on Guinea worm and other areas. But it didn’t stop the Guinea worm program on the ground, Weiss said.