Dogs and Guinea worm eradication
2016; Elsevier BV; Volume: 16; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s1473-3099(16)30080-9
ISSN1474-4457
Autores Tópico(s)Mosquito-borne diseases and control
ResumoAfter 30 years of control campaigns, guinea worm faces eradication.1The Lancet Infectious DiseasesGuinea worm disease nears eradication.Lancet Infect Dis. 2016; 16: 131Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar However, dogs are expected to thwart the eradication of dracunculiasis as they act as alternative hosts of the worm.1The Lancet Infectious DiseasesGuinea worm disease nears eradication.Lancet Infect Dis. 2016; 16: 131Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar, 2Callaway E Dogs thwart effort to eradicate Guinea worm.Nature. 2016; 529: 10-11Crossref PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar The health community undoubtedly have to recognise the success of the Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP), although some flaws cannot be overlooked. One of the most essential points when trying to achieve the control of parasitic infections is to determine the role of reservoirs that could maintain the disease. Erroneously, dogs are likely to have been ignored as reservoirs of Dracunculus medinensis so far. I find it hard to believe that a parasite that has always been considered specific to humans is able to adapt perfectly to a supposedly new host in such a short period of time. The considerable increase in the number of infected dogs detected in Chad in 2015 has led to the assertion that there was a “mysterious epidemic” of dracunculiasis in that country.2Callaway E Dogs thwart effort to eradicate Guinea worm.Nature. 2016; 529: 10-11Crossref PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar On the contrary, I believe that the reward offered since February, 2015, (US$20) for reporting infected dogs in Chad2Callaway E Dogs thwart effort to eradicate Guinea worm.Nature. 2016; 529: 10-11Crossref PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar, 3Hopkins DR Ruiz-Tiben E Eberhard ML et al.Progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis, January 2014–June 2015.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015; 64: 1161-1165Crossref PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar has provoked the increase in the detection of parasitised dogs from that month onwards. Before trying to analyse the peculiar epidemiology of dracunculiasis in Chad, experts should consider that these results are likely to be the direct consequence of this incentive in such a poor country, where the monthly minimum wage is around $110. Several other factors should also be considered. First, it seems that the only information available about the presence of guinea worms in dogs came from people living in villages along the Chari River. Apparently, locals cannot recall there being infected dogs in the past.2Callaway E Dogs thwart effort to eradicate Guinea worm.Nature. 2016; 529: 10-11Crossref PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar Is that level of reporting reliable enough? Second, dogs, supposedly, become infected by eating the entrails of fish with dracunculus larvae.1The Lancet Infectious DiseasesGuinea worm disease nears eradication.Lancet Infect Dis. 2016; 16: 131Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar, 2Callaway E Dogs thwart effort to eradicate Guinea worm.Nature. 2016; 529: 10-11Crossref PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar, 3Hopkins DR Ruiz-Tiben E Eberhard ML et al.Progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis, January 2014–June 2015.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015; 64: 1161-1165Crossref PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar, 4Eberhard ML Ruiz-Tiben E Hopkins DR et al.The peculiar epidemiology of dracunculiasis in Chad.Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2014; 90: 61-70Crossref PubMed Scopus (98) Google Scholar However, these larvae have not been found in any potential paratenic hosts (fish, frogs, or lizards).4Eberhard ML Ruiz-Tiben E Hopkins DR et al.The peculiar epidemiology of dracunculiasis in Chad.Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2014; 90: 61-70Crossref PubMed Scopus (98) Google Scholar Third, in August, 2014, and 2015, the larvicide temephos was applied to specific sections of lagoons where dogs usually drink.3Hopkins DR Ruiz-Tiben E Eberhard ML et al.Progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis, January 2014–June 2015.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2015; 64: 1161-1165Crossref PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar This measure was probably taken too late. The infected dogs detected in 2015 probably became infected before the use of the larvicide, considering the long incubation period of D medinensis. These factors notwithstanding, the continued presence of guinea worms in dogs does not mean that the parasite cannot be expected to disappear in humans if they continue to drink safe water. For more on wages and social security in Chad see http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2014-2015/africa/chad.html For more on wages and social security in Chad see http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2014-2015/africa/chad.html I declare no competing interests. Guinea worm disease nears eradicationOnly two infectious diseases have ever been eradicated: smallpox, of which the last naturally transmitted case occurred in 1977, and rinderpest, a disease of cattle and related ungulates, officially declared eradicated in 2011. This year might see a remarkable doubling in the list of eradicated diseases, with both polio (about which we wrote in the August, 2015, issue) and guinea worm no longer being naturally transmitted. Full-Text PDF Dogs and Guinea worm eradicationTeresa Galán-Puchades, in her Correspondence on dogs and Guinea worm eradication,1 noted several critical points about the Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP) in Chad. We would like to clarify several of the issues. Full-Text PDF
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