Guinea Worm - Goodbye and Good Riddance.

This week I came across a story in Scientific American that was like seeing a bright shaft of sunlight on a bleak January day. In a week where I have been depressed by the standard of leadership on display in the UK: the Skivers v Strivers debate being an excellent example of the over simplistic, soundbite led approach to complex social problems. So it has cheered me up no end to come across a genuine good news story. One in which great leadership and a clear vision has delivered genuinely stunning results.

Over 20 years ago I studied at university, a  parasite called Dracunculus medinensis. It's a nematode. It is the only disease transmitted solely by drinking water, and humans are its only reservoir, says James Hughes, professor of medicine and public health at Emory University. The disease spreads when villagers consume water containing fleas that harbour guinea worm larvae. The larvae grow to maturity inside the human body and emerge after a year as a fully grown two- to three-foot-long worm that often exits through the leg or foot. It is an excruciatingly painful process, and individuals often immerse the limb in water to cool the burning sensation, which starts the cycle all over again.It affects some of the poorest and most remote communities in Africa—97 percent of cases are in South Sudan.

Want to see what it looks like ? Take a look at the picture above. The white string like object trailing across the child's tummy? That's it. Horrific huh !

When I was at university we discussed how it was unlikely that the disease would ever be eradicated; a public health education/eradication programme would cost far too much money and be far too complicated. Now here's the good news. The really really good news.

Incredibly “We are approaching the demise of the last guinea worm who will ever live on earth,” says former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Centre has spearheaded the eradication effort. Guinea Worm is poised to become the second human disease after smallpox to be eradicated.

Scientific America reports that "since 1986 groups such as the Carter Centre have distributed cloth water filters to villagers and educated residents about how not to spread the infection. They have also selectively used Abate, a larvicide, to control fleas in the drinking water."

They quote Sharon Roy of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as saying that "So far the efforts have resulted in a 99 percent reduction in infections". In 1986 there were 3.5 million cases, as compared with only 1,060 in 2011 and a mere five as of the first few months of 2012.

I wouldn't go so far as calling it a miracle but it's pretty damn close. And it's a much needed shining example of what humanity can achieve regarding seemingly intractible problems.