World Creeps Closer to Eradicating a Loathed Parasite

There were only 10 reported cases of Guinea worm infections confined to three countries in 2025, a historic low announced Friday by the Carter Center. The new mark comes barely a year after the death of former President Carter, who often said he hoped to outlive the Guinea worm. When the center launched an eradication program in the mid-1980s, the parasite still afflicted millions of people in developing countries, reports the AP. "We think about President Carter's legacy" and his push to get to zero cases, said Adam Weiss, director of the center's Guinea worm eradication program. "These might not be seen as the number one problems in the world, but they are the No. 1 problems for people that suffer from these diseases. So we continue to charge ourselves with his mission of alleviating as much pain and suffering as we can."

In 2025, four human cases were reported in Chad, four in Ethiopia, and two in South Sudan. Animal infections still number in the hundreds, declining in some countries but up slightly overall and making it harder to predict when Guinea worm might be eradicated. The 10 human cases mark a 33% decline from 15 cases reported in 2024. Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Mali reported zero human cases for the second consecutive year. Guinea worm would join smallpox as the only two human diseases to be eradicated. The worm is contracted by consuming water that contains larvae. It then grows inside an infected person, reaching as much as a meter long and the diameter of spaghetti. The worm then exits the person's body through a blister, which causes intense pain.

The Carter Center's eradication program has worked alongside government health ministries and other organizations for decades to educate the public, train volunteers, and distribute water filters in affected areas. Weiss said the program's next step is developing diagnostic tests, especially for animals. Testing long before an infected person or animal becomes symptomatic would allow behavioral changes to minimize or eliminate the chances of them allowing more larvae to enter a water source. Weiss said that President Trump's decision to leave the WHO and pull back funding and US involvement from a range of international aid efforts has forced some logistical changes to the center's work on Guinea worm. But, Weiss said, it hasn't stopped the Guinea worm program at the ground level.