Dracunculiasis, also known as Guinea worm disease, is a parasitic disease caused by a long thread-like worm that develops inside the body after a person drinks water contaminated with larvae-carrying water fleas. About a year after infection, a mature worm emerges slowly and painfully through the skin, usually in the leg or foot, a process that can take weeks and cause intense pain and secondary infection. There is no vaccine or medicine to treat or prevent it, and the disease is close to eradication through water safety and case-containment measures alone.
Facts
Classification
ICD-10 ChapterI: Certain Infectious and Parasitic Diseases 2 Communicable or Non-communicable Transmission Route Causative Agent
Causative Agent (category) Causative AgentDracunculus medinensis (Guinea worm) 1 Sources
1. Dracunculiasis - Wikipedia
Lead paragraph 1
a parasitic infection by the Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis)
Lead section, body-system statement
Stomach acid digests the copepod and releases the Guinea worm larva, which penetrates the digestive tract and escapes into the body.
Lead section, transmission-route statement
A person becomes infected by drinking water contaminated with Guinea-worm larvae that reside inside copepods (a type of small crustacean).
Lead section, body-system statement (integumentary)
Around a year later, the adult female worm migrates to an exit site - usually the lower leg - and induces an intensely painful blister on the skin.
View the Source2. Wikipedia: ICD-10
WikipediaList of chapters, Chapter IQuote, List of chapters, Chapter I
Certain infectious and parasitic diseases
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