Guinea worm

noun

variants or guinea worm

: a slender, parasitic, nematode worm (Dracunculus medinensis) of tropical regions that has an adult female that often attains a length of over 3 feet (91.5 centimeters) and is the causative agent of dracunculiasis

Note: The Guinea worm undergoes larval development in small freshwater copepod crustaceans (genus Cyclops) which are ingested by humans in contaminated drinking water. When the Guinea worm larvae are released, they pass from the stomach and intestine to the thorax and abdomen for maturation and mating. Gravid females of typically 24 to 40 inches (60 to 100 centimeters) in length migrate through subcutaneous tissues towards the skin especially of the lower legs and feet. At the skin surface, the female worms form painful blisters from which they slowly emerge approximately 10 to 14 months following initial infection. Upon immersion in water, the female expels hundreds of thousands of young larvae.

Examples of Guinea worm in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The organization touches lives in 80 countries around the world building houses for the homeless, helping farmers in developing nations, training nurses, and eradicating Guinea worm disease, a debilitating parasitic infection spread by drinking water contaminated with the worm's larvae. —M.l. Nestel, ABC News, 19 Nov. 2023

LifeStraw also has worked with the Carter Center since 1994 to eradicate Guinea worm disease, which dropped from 100,000 cases to a low of 13 cases in 2022. —Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 1 Nov. 2023

The former president also gets updates on The Carter Center’s Guinea worm eradication program, launched in the mid-1980s when millions of people suffered from the parasite spread by unclean drinking water. —Bill Barrow, Chicago Tribune, 24 May 2023

And as Guinea worm infections grow rare, vigilance can wane and people revert to their old ways, opening the door for Guinea worm to reemerge. —Kimberly Paul, The Conversation, 2 Feb. 2023

But if the World Health Organization meets its goal of officially purging the globe of Guinea worm by 2030, the parasite would become the second pathogen eradicated in human history, after smallpox. —Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Feb. 2020

The Carter Center, which the former president founded after leaving the White House, was key in helping to eliminate the Guinea worm parasite in African countries. —Darlene Superville, ajc, 25 Feb. 2023

Carter’s most enduring global legacy could be making Guinea worm the second infectious human disease to be eradicated, after smallpox in 1980. —Los Angeles Times, 28 Feb. 2023

By providing millions of water filters to communities to protect people from ingesting the Guinea worm larvae and educating people with the disease to not enter water sources which in turn perpetuate the cycle of infection, the Carter Center and its partners achieved a monumental feat. —Anand Parekh, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2023

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Word History

First Known Use

1699, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

Guinea worm

noun

variants or guinea worm

: a slender, tropical, parasitic nematode worm of the genus Dracunculus (D. medinensis) that has an adult female that often attains a length of over 3 feet (91.5 centimeters) and is the causative agent of dracunculiasis

Note: The Guinea worm undergoes larval development in tiny freshwater copepod crustaceans (genus Cyclops) which are ingested by humans in contaminated drinking water. When the Guinea worm larvae are released, they pass from the stomach and intestine to the thorax and abdomen for maturation and mating. Gravid females of typically 24 to 40 inches (60 to 100 centimeters) in length migrate through subcutaneous tissues towards the skin especially of the lower legs and feet. At the skin surface, the female worms form painful blisters from which they slowly emerge approximately 10 to 14 months following initial infection. Upon immersion in water, the female expels hundreds of thousands of young larvae.

called also Medina worm