Carter: Parasitic Guinea Worm Cases Hit Record Low

Feb. 19, 2010

This article was distributed by the Associated Press.

ATLANTA (AP) - Global cases of Guinea worm disease have dropped to a new all-time low, former President Jimmy Carter said Friday, and health officials hope the infection that culminates in worms emerging from a victim's skin can be eliminated within two years.
Fewer than 3,500 worldwide cases of the disease were reported in 2009, all in the African countries of Sudan, Ethiopia, Ghana and Mali, the Democrat from Georgia said. Some 80 percent of those cases were found in Sudan, which Carter and experts from the Atlanta-based Carter Center visited this month to jump-start the final phase of the eradication program. Read the full text >>