Comments on: The Guinea Worm: A Fond Obituary

By: karen james

karen james — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 16:31:11 +0000

My granddaughter is going to study abroad in Ghana in July. What’s the story there?

[CZ: No Guinea worm there.]

By: Mary Clark

Mary Clark — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 15:24:04 +0000

Every year in April, I use the Save the Guinea Worm Foundation website to teach middle school students about hoax sites, and hopefully, how to be more critical internet users. I usually share the CDC and WHO sites to show them reliable info about guinea worms, but this article is SO much more interesting! The guinea worm vomits embryos from her mouth? My students are going to love this!

By: fiddles

fiddles — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:56:01 +0000

oh for the love of Pete, David Riddell, you couldn’t find something more original to say then that — no, the ppl are not “zombies” to the worm & let’s see how long you’d resist not giving in to the burning sensation.

By: Don Larson

Don Larson — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 02:56:51 +0000

Even smallpox is still around in laboratories, I wonder what efforts will be made to preserve this helminth for academia?

By: David Riddell

David Riddell — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:51:37 +0000

It would seem that humans would almost qualify as the guinea worms’ zombie slaves. In response to the prompting of that “burning without cease”, hosts head for the water where the secondary hosts live, and scratch at the itchy blister to release the worm’s eggs. At least, with education, we have the ability to override that behaviour.

By: Pascale

Pascale — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:23:14 +0000

Good riddance, but sad to leave a fascinating creature largely un-studied.

Typo in 2nd to last paragraph? “inside of us for over a year without experience organ rejection”

By: Wulf Klohn

Wulf Klohn — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 21:09:07 +0000

From what I was told while in West Africa, I collect that Guinea worm is not specific to humans but can be hosted by other animals wading in and drinking from shallow waters, such antelopes and lions. It would follow that the Guinea worm is not prone to easily become extinct. [CZ: This is not the case. There is no known reservoir species for Guinea worms. If there were, then there'd be no point to an eradication program focused on the human life cycle.]

By: James Sweet

James Sweet — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:11:04 +0000

@John Sullivan: Well, I see you didn’t Google :p When I first heard of the eradication program, I wondered the same thing. I am still not sure if this site is a prank or not, but in any case:

http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/index.htm

By: anon

anon — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:51:29 +0000

John Sullivan, the Save the Guinea Worm Foundation is what you are looking for

http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/

By: Betty White

Betty White — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 02:43:24 +0000

I have them.