The Peculiar Epidemiology of Dracunculiasis in Chad

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The Peculiar Epidemiology of Dracunculiasis in Chad

Dracunculiasis was rediscovered in Chad in 2010 after an apparent absence of 10 years. In April 2012 active village-based surveillance was initiated to determine where, when, and how transmission of the disease was occurring, and to implement interventions to interrupt it. The current epidemiologic pattern of the disease in Chad is unlike that seen previously in Chad or other endemic countries, i.e., no clustering of cases by village or association with a common water source, the average number of worms per person was small, and a large number of dogs were found to be infected.

Very interesting research that is continuing in Chad on how Guinea Worm is being re-introduced into humans. It is interesting that the cycle in this case is related to the annual receding of the river and the lifecycle of Guinea worm takes about a year. They don't say this in the article but you have to wonder if this is how Guinea worm evolved in the first place. There were 101 cases reported in the first 9 months of this year, a 25% reduction from last year and all of the cases in Ethiopia appear to have been contained this year so progress continues to be made in the eradication of this painful and economically costly disease.