Complete Information on Dracunculiasis with Treatment and Prevention

Dracunculiasis, is a transmission caused by the parasite dracunculus medinensis. It is more usually known as guinea insect disease. Infection affects impoverished communities in distant parts of africa that do not get secure water to drink. Adult female dracunculus worms emerge from the skin of Infected persons annually. Persons with worms protruding through the skin may enter sources of drinking water and unwittingly allow the worm to release larvae into the water. Persons become infected by drinking water containing the water fleas harboring the infective stage larvae of dracunculus medinensis. Anyone who drinks standing pond water contaminated by persons with guinea worm disease is at risk for infection. People who live in villages where the infection is common are at greatest risk. Most dracunculiasis cases occur in the young adult population who may be exposed to contaminated water sources more frequently.

The disease causes preventable suffering for infected persons and is a heavy economic and social burden for affected communities. Death due to dracunculiasis is not caused by the primary infection and occurs only in cases in which secondary infection of the worm's exit site leads to sepsis. Infected persons do not usually have symptoms until about one year after they become infected. Another, more chronic, complication of dracunculiasis is encapsulation of the adult worm, which occurs when the calcified remains of the worm persist in the extremity of the patient. This can result in chronic pain and intermittent swelling of the extremity.  Infected persons may remain sick for some months.

People, in distant, agricultural communities who are almost usually affected by guinea insect disease do not get approach to medical maintenance. No medicine is accessible to finish or forbid transmission. However, the insect can be surgically removed before an ulcer forms. Considering a full-grown worm can measure up to a meter in length, this slow process can take many days or even weeks, but it is required to avoid breakage and leaving behind a portion of the worm. The most common practice to treat dracunculiasis involves wrapping the worm around a stick. Parents who have active dracunculiasis may not be able to care for their children. They also cannot tend or harvest or crops, which leads to financial problems for the entire family. Analgesics, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, can help reduce swelling, antibiotic ointment can help prevent bacterial infections.