Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Carter Center Guinea worm experts Drs. Donald R. Hopkins and Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben hosted a media roundtable via Google+ Hangout On Air to announce the provisional Guinea worm case totals for 2012 and discuss significant progress in the international Guinea worm eradication campaign led by The Carter Center.
Experts believe Guinea worm disease (also known as dracunculiasis) will be only the second human disease in history eradicated after smallpox. Guinea worm also will be the first parasitic disease eradicated and the first disease eradicated without a vaccine or medicine.
Using simple tools like fine-mesh water filters and health education, The Carter Center and its partners have worked at the grassroots to reduce cases of this ancient disease by more than 99.9 percent since the Carter Center began fighting Guinea worm in 1986.
Related Links
Number of Reported Cases of Guinea Worm Disease by Year: 1989–2012* (PDF) >
Guinea Worm Fact Sheet (PDF) >
Chart: The Life Cycle of Guinea Worm Disease >
New England Journal of Medicine Article: Disease Eradication >
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