A debilitating infection from the parasitic Guinea worm is inching closer to global eradication, with an all-time low of only 10 human cases reported worldwide in 2025, the Carter Center announced.
If health workers can fully wipe out the worms, it will be only the second human disease to be eradicated, after smallpox.
Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis) is a parasitic nematode transmitted in water. More specifically, it’s found in waters that contain small crustacean copepods, which harbor the worm’s larvae. If a person consumes water contaminated with Guinea worm, the parasites burrow through the intestinal tract and migrate through the body. About a year later, a spaghetti noodle-length worm emerges from a painful blister, usually in the feet or legs. It can take up to eight weeks for the adult worm to fully emerge. To ease the searing pain, infected people may put their blistered limbs in water, allowing the parasite to release more larvae and continue the cycle.
