Update: dracunculiasis eradication--Ghana and Nigeria, 1990

Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease) is a disabling infection that each year affects an estimated 5 million persons in 17 African countries and parts of India and Pakistan. This disease is contracted only by persons who drink water contaminated by tiny copepods containing larval stages of the parasite Dracunculus medinensis. The infection can be prevented by providing safe sources of drinking water, teaching populations at risk to boil water or filter it through a fine cloth, or treating the water with temephos (Abate*). Efforts to eradicate dracunculiasis began in 1981, immediately before the start of the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. This report summarizes the progress of guinea worm eradication programs (GWEPs) in Ghana and Nigeria.