Project Materials

AN EVALUATION AND UPDATE OF GUINEA WORM (DRACUNCULUS MEDINENSIS) AS AN ENDEMIC PARASITIC ORGANISM IN NIGERIA

Chapter one

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Guinea worms are endemic parasitic organisms that belong to the Nematoda group. The worm’s scientific name is Dracunculus Medineansis. Guinea worms cause an illness known as “Dracunculiasis” or “Dracunculosis”. The sickness of Dracunculus Medinensis is known in Latin as “disturbance with little dragon”. (Barry. 2007).

The worm measures about 2 to 3 feet in length. (Hunter. 2007). Guineaworm is also discovered to be a nematode that produces an incapacitating disease, which affects people in poor, rural areas of Africa, Yemen, and India. Watts (2002).

This sickness caused by Dracunculus Medinensis (Guinea worm) is a long-standing human infection that has been mentioned by many authors from India, Greece, and the Middle East throughout antiquity.

Guinea worm infections have historically occurred in Algeria, Egypt, Gambia, Guinea Conakry, the Middle East, South America, and the West Indies. (CDC 1999).

Guinea worm infection in Nigeria began in the late 1980s. Its connection to water sources was recognised early on, and it was also known that if the pre-patent period had not been so long, the mode of infection would have been obvious many centuries ago (Abolarin, 1999).

It was discovered that the larvae released by developing female worms in the limbs of patients developed in fresh water, Cyclops residing in ponds, and were swallowed via drinking water.

Female worms that are pre-emergent can readily migrate through the connective tissues, but when they approach the surface, a few larvae are discharged into the sub-dermis via a rupture at the anterior end.

The host’s reaction causes the formation of a burning, painful blister, which bursts in a few days to form a shallow ulcer, as well as a strong inflammatory response against the entire worm’s cuticle, preventing its removal.