Teresia elago 201067560--Teresia elago (talk) 09:23, 4 October 2012 (UTC)TERESIA
GUINEA WORM DISEASE
editA four metre long worm under your skin! Even worse, there is no medication available to kill it or stop you from getting it. In dams and pools in Africa, north of the equator to the Sahara, lives a tiny water flea of the genus Cyclops. The parasitic larva lives inside the flea. As soon as you take a drink of water and swallow the little devil, the larva will grow into an immuture worm within a year's time.The immature worms then enter your abdomen, where they mate . The male dies, but the female moves further until she reaches your skin where she can reach a length of up to 4 meters!
For you, the host, this means excruciating pain, fever and to top it all, you will also develop blisters on your skin. Cool water relieves the pain and discomfort for a while, but as soon as you get into the water, the blisters burst and Wendy the worm shows her face.
This worm's uterus is situated just behind her head, and as soon as the head comes into contact with water, the uterus bursts. The eggs have hatched already, and it is only a question of time before the larva looks for its host again. Within no time someone else takes a sip of water and before you know it, another Guinea worm couple are enjoying their honeymoon.
There is only one way to get rid of this worm. As soon as Windy the worm shows her face in the water, you grap her and start winding her around a stick. When she loosens her grip on you, the stick is rolled a little tighter. This process of rolling up and pulling out can take months and is obviously very painful for the patient.
In 2000, some 3.5 million people suffered from the disease, but thanks to Unicef and the World Health Orgnisation this figure dropped to 133 000 in 2007. Apart from the pain caused by the removing the worm, it also causes infection and, in some cases, an allergic reaction. The open blisters can became infected in which case an antibiotic is required. So remenber to be careful as there is no medication to kill the worm or to prevent you from being infected.
references 1. ^Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDP) (August 2007) 2. ^www.who.int/dracunculiasis/en/ 3. ^www.who.int/mediacentre/event/2004/wha57/carter/en/