Guinea worm life cycle

More than 17 cases of suspected Guinea worm have been recorded in Duk County of Jonglei State, heath officials have said.

The suspected cases were detected in areas where floods have displaced several people in Duk Padiet.

Peter Mathiang, county health official, told Eye Radio that people are still using stagnant water for domestic use.

“When a person drinks the water, it will go into the abdomen through the digestive system. Then these worms will exit from any outlet in the human body, even from the eye,” Mathiang told Eye Radio.

According to experts, guinea worm affects poor communities in remote parts of South Sudan that do not have safe water to drink.

There is no drug treatment for Guinea worm disease nor a vaccine to prevent it.

The suspected Guinea worm cases have been further reported in the villages of Ayuldet and Dorok of Duk County.

For his part, the County Executive Director, Elijah Manyok, said more than 5,000 families have been exposed to the contaminated water.

“They do not have clean drinking water. So everyone is just drinking from the Guinea worm-infested water,” he added.

Guinea worm disease is a parasitic infection transmitted through drinking water contaminated with larvae of the Guinea worm.

If ingested, these larvae can grow for more than a year, reaching a length of two to three feet.

It does not lead to death but it disables those infected for months.