After smallpox another infectious disease may be eradicated in near future. This year there are only two confirmed cases of Guinea worm infection. If things go according to plan, this horribly painful infection will be confined soon to history books.
This eradication is in many way unique. There is no treatment for Guinea worm infection. There is no vaccine.. So the tools for eradication are health education and preventive measures. Scientific knowledge of the way it spreads and common sense approach to prevent it spreading was the key for the success.
Medical worker Abaare Hussein extracts a Guinea worm from a child’s leg in Savelugu Village in northern Ghana in 2007.
Wes Pope/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images