GWD meaning in Medical ?
Answer: What is Guinea worm disease mean?
Dracunculiasis, also called Guinea-worm disease, is a parasitic infection by the Guinea worm, Dracunculus medinensis. A person becomes infected from drinking water that contains water fleas infected with guinea worm larvae. After ingestion, the worms penetrate the digestive tract and escape into the body, where they develop over the course of a year. Eventually, the adult worm migrates to an exit site – usually a lower limb – and induces an intensely painful blister on the skin. When an infected person submerges the wound in water to ease the pain, the blister bursts open and the worm spews her larvae into the water, then slowly crawls out of the wound over the course of a few weeks. The wound remains painful over the course of the worm's emergence, disabling the infected person for the three to ten weeks it takes the worm to emerge. During this time, the open wound can become infected with bacteria, leading to death in around 1% of cases.
Previously affecting millions of people across Africa, India, and the Middle East, Guinea worm is now nearly eradicated, with just 27 cases documented in 2020. It will likely be the first parasitic disease to be globally eradicated. Because dogs may also become infected, the eradication program is monitoring and treating dogs as well.
Prevention is by early diagnosis of the disease followed by keeping the infected person from putting the wound into drinking water, thus decreasing the spread of the parasite. Other efforts include improving access to clean water and otherwise filtering water if it is not clean. Filtering through a cloth is often enough to remove the water fleas. Contaminated drinking water may be treated with a chemical called temefos to kill the water flea larva. There is no medication or vaccine against the disease. The worm may be slowly removed over a few weeks by rolling it over a stick. The ulcers formed by the emerging worm may get infected by bacteria. Pain may continue for months after the worm has been removed.
Guinea worm disease has been known since ancient times. The method of removing the worm is described in the Egyptian medical Ebers Papyrus, dating from 1550 BC. The name dracunculiasis is derived from the Latin "affliction with little dragons", while the name "guinea worm" appeared after Europeans saw the disease on the Guinea coast of West Africa in the 17th century. Other Dracunculus species are known to infect various mammals, but do not appear to infect humans. Dracunculiasis is classified as a neglected tropical disease.
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