Posted on 03/25/2006 7:00:08 PM PST by Born Conservative
OGI, Nigeria — Whatever secrets the turgid brown depths of the Sacred Pond of Ogi may keep, there is one they betray quite easily: why it is so infuriatingly hard to wipe even one disease off the face of the earth.
Ogi is one of the last areas of Nigeria infested with Guinea worm, a plague so ancient that it is found in Egyptian mummies and is thought to be the "fiery serpent" described in the Old Testament as torturing the Israelites in the desert.
For untold generations here, yardlong, spaghetti-thin worms erupted from the legs or feet — or even eye sockets — of victims, forcing their way out by exuding acid under the skin until it bubbled and burst. The searing pain drove them to plunge the blisters into the nearest pool of water, whereupon the worm would squirt out a milky cloud of larvae, starting the cycle anew.
"The pain is like if you stab somebody," said Hyacinth Igelle, a farmer with a worm coming out of a hand so swollen and tender that he could not hold a hoe. He indicated how the pain moved slowly up his arm. "It is like fire — it comes late, but you feel it even unto your heart."
Now, thanks to a relentless 20-year campaign led by former President Jimmy Carter, Guinea worm is poised to become the first disease since smallpox to be pushed into oblivion. Fewer than 12,000 cases were found last year, down from 3 million in 1986.
Mr. Carter persuaded world leaders, philanthropists and companies to care about an obscure and revolting disease and help him fight it. His foundation mobilized volunteers in tens of thousands of villages to treat the drinking water the worms live in.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I doubt even rabid PETA types would defend the rights of this worm. It's just too gross.
Some 'sacred' pond.
Nigerians were refusing innoculations because the Muslims in power were telling them that the shots contained the AIDS virus implanted by the CIA. Now they are experiening an outbreak of Polio. (Another irradicated disease)...they won't do any better with this disease. It is a worthwhile effort, but probably not the worst problem that faces Nigeria.
Ping
I'm gonna have nightmares.
I'm with you -- glad the disease is being wiped out, can't bring myself to credit the peanut man.
http://www.ndc-nihfw.org/html/Programmes/GuineaWormEradicationProgramme.htm
India is the first country in the world to establish the National Guinea Worm Eradication Programme in 1983-84 as a centrally sponsored scheme on 50-50 sharing between Centre and States with the objective of eradicating guinea worm disease from the country. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Delhi worked as the nodal agency for planning, coordination, guidance and evaluation of NGWEP in the country.
It seems this program in India existed a few years before Carter's program, though it is not an international program. The program in India seems to have been successful
In the Meeting of WHO in February 2000 ... India has been certified for the elimination of Guinea Worm Disease and on 15th February 2001 declared India as “Guinea Worm Disease Free”.
Carter was convinced to take up the challenge by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Much of the credit for that achievement goes to members and former members of the staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who through an advocacy campaign beginning in 1980 and sustained over more than a decade (79, 80, 82, 83) succeeded in convincing former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Executive Board, the 1989 African Regional Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO), and the 1990 World Summit for Children to take up the challenge. .
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