Guinea Worm Infection - What is It & How to Prevent Becoming Infected

A guinea worm infection is caused when someone drinks water that is unsafe for consumption and infested with the parasite. Generally, these worms affect people in underprivileged communities in Africa that don't have safe drinking water for their residents.

It typically takes about one year after a person drinks water contaminated with these parasites for an adult female guinea worm to emerge from the skin of the infected host. The disease is spread when someone with a guinea worm protruding from their body bathes in a water source and unknowingly allows their parasite to lay larvae. Those larvae become meals for tiny water fleas that live in the water source, and then they are consumed by people who drink from that water.

Human stomach acids will break down the water fleas, but not the guinea worm larvae, which make their way to the small intestine, penetrate its walls and pass into the body cavity. The female parasite will grow to about 3 feet in length in the next 10 to 14 months, and once they're fully grown they will emerge from the skin usually in the lower limb area.

Symptoms don't usually appear until a year after the person is infected. A blister will form at the site where a female guinea worm will emerge. Infected parties may develop a fever and the blistered site may swell and become painful. The worm tends to appear slowly and painfully, often disabling the infected person. Unfortunately, rural communities where these infections are most common don't have adequate medical care. This results in secondary conditions such as bacterial infections, which can incapacitate people for weeks or months, and may result in permanent disability.