Dracunculus medinensis The Guinea Worm

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Dracunculus medinensisThe Guinea Worm

• Brittney Keel

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Review

• Scientific name - Dracunculus medinensis
• Common name - Guinea worm, medina worm, serpent
  worm
• One of the largest nematodes, males are
  approximately 40 mm long and females are 80 cm
  long
• It is transmitted from the intermediate host the
  Copepod to the definitive host the Human.

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Historical Accounts

• The guinea worm, Dracunculus medinensis, has been
  known from very ancient times.
• Egyptian mythology pertaining to the Serpent of
  Isis has been postulated as relating to
  dracunculiasis. The "plague of the fiery
  serpents" which decimated the Hebrews during the
  Exodus from Egypt, as described in the Book of
  Numbers.
• Early Greek and Roman physicians associated the
  disease with certain watering holes and wells.
  Arab and Persian writers of the Middle Ages
  described the disease and a Persian doctor of the
  10th century identified a worm as its cause.
• This nematode was known as a parasite of humans
  about 1530 B.C. Some investigators suggest that
  the Guinea worm is the "fiery serpent" referred
  to in the Bible. The symbol of a Physician is the
  "Caduceus". This is the staff of Hermes and
  contains coiled serpents on a staff. The serpents
  are believed to represent the Guinea worm.

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Discovery

• The Ebers papyrus, dating from 1550 B.C.,
  described the disease and its primitive
  treatment, still used in most endemic areas
  today. A calcified guinea worm was discovered in
  the abdominal cavity of an adolescent Egyptian
  mummy.
• Scientists studied Dracunculiasis, but did not
  discover the full life cycle.
• D. medinensis complete life cycle was discovered
  by Alekei Pavlovitch Fedchenko in 1870.
• Indian bacteriologist, Dyneshvar Atmaran Turkhud,
  solidified Fedchenkos knowledge in 1913

Persian physicians removing the Dracunculus
medinensis parasite from the leg of a patient
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Cultural Practices

• People in endemic areas such as Africa, Sudan,
  and India contribute to the transmission of the
  disease by placing there infected limb/limbs in
  water to relieve the pain that the worm causes,
  and then drinking the contaminated water.

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Distribution Prevalence

• The Guinea worm is found mostly in Africa, but is
  also found in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and
  Yemen.
• Infects approximately 10 million people per
  year.  The majority of human infections occur in
  parts of West Africa, East Africa, and India.

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Prevention Treatment

• To stop the infection of the Guinea worm you must
  keep Guinea worm larvae out of the drinking
  water. Use only water that has been filtered or
  obtained from a safe source.
• Water can be boiled, filtered through tightly
  woven nylon cloth, or treated with a
  larvae-killing chemical. People with an open
  Guinea worm wound should not enter ponds or wells
  used for drinking water.
• There is no cure. The only treatment is to remove
  the worm over many weeks by winding it around a
  small stick and pulling it out a tiny bit at a
  time. Sometimes the worm can be pulled out
  completely within a few days, but the process
  usually takes weeks or months.
• No medication is available to end or prevent
  infection. However, the worm can be surgically
  removed before the wound begins to swell.
  Antihistamines and antibiotics can reduce
  swelling and ease removal of the worm.

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References

• http//www.stanford.edu/class/humbio103/ParaSites2
  006/Dracunculiasis/history.html
• http//www.who.int/en/
• http//www.astdhpphe.org/infect/guinea.html
• http//ucdnema.ucdavis.edu/imagemap/nemmap/Ent156h
  tml/nemas/dracunculusmedinensis