From small pox to “guinea worm disease”?
That’s a bit of a step backward, isn’t it? I mean, isn’t there any more significant disease that we could take out for round 2?
Problem is that many diseases have reservoirs in the natural world. The only ones that you can really eradicate are those that have human infection as an obligate part of their life cycle.
Ebola, for instance, is endemic in fruit bats and probably other animals. Plague and hantavirus in the SW USA are endemic in several types of rodents.
A target of opportunity. Scientists believe that humans are the only host for one part of the life cycle of the Guinea worm. Get rid of the worm in humans for long enough and the worm is gone. Hope they're right about no animal reservoir. A minor disease compared to smallpox but a serious problem if you live in that part of the world. A worm one meter long living inside you.
The WHO is working hard to eliminate polio. In unstable areas of the world, it is very difficult to conduct vaccination campaigns... but there is progress.