Dracunculiasis eradication: neglected no longer

This report summarizes the status of the global Dracunculiasis Eradication Program as of early 2008. By the end of 2007, dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) transmission had been eliminated from 15 of the 20 countries where the disease was endemic in 1986, only 9,585 cases were reported worldwide, and 2,016 villages still had indigenous cases of the disease. Two of the remaining affected countries (Nigeria and Niger) reported < 100 cases in 2007 and are on the verge of eliminating dracunculiasis if they have not stopped transmission already. Sudan, Ghana, and Mali are addressing their final challenges to interrupting all remaining transmission by the end of 2009.