Word: guinea
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...they wait for a few of their female colleagues to finish fetching water and join them. Finally, they pair off and enter the village on he first of of what will be many such "case searches" to be held this year. Their objective? To find cases of of Guinea worm in the homes of their neighbors...
...Dracunculiasis, commonly called Guinea worm disease (or "nyerfu" in this part of the world), is a parasite contracted by drinking contaminated water - in this case, water contaminated by victim of the disease. An emerged worm lays its eggs upon contact with water, and the eggs are then ingested by a parasite called a copepod. Once the water is consumed by a human, the copepod is destroyed in the stomach, but the egg lives on. About a year after a person drinks the infested water, the Guinea worm emerges, usually in the lower extremities, creating a painful and debilitating condition which...
...During their sweep of the village, the health workers are dismayed by what they find. In many houses, the simple cloth filters used to keep Guinea worm out of the water supply are full of tiny holes, which the volunteers point out to the owners before replacing their filters. A young volunteer named Norideem gathers some children and quizzes them on Guinea-worm prevention, a topic covered regularly by local health staff in Wantugu's schools. But when he asks where Guinea worm comes from, some have no answer. Others stick to a commonly held traditional belief: They tell...
...Guinea worm makes its presence known in the human body when it tries to leave, emerging in a painful blister. But it does not go far on its own, and must instead be removed manually through a daily bandaging routine. Health workers unwrap the bandage from the day before, tug the worm a few millimeters, and then apply a new bandage. The process is excruciating, as a worm can take up to two weeks to be completely pulled out, and patients with an emerged worm are often in too much pain to walk. Being unable to walk means being unable...
...health workers regroup to discuss their findings, the volunteers voice their frustrations with a disease that is so harmful yet so easily preventable. Like his colleagues, Vitus Naporow, an Area Coordinator working for the Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Program, cannot understand why his community resists the simple steps that would eradicate Guinea worm from the area...