We're Closer Than Ever to Realizing Jimmy Carter's Dream

UPDATE Jan 25, 2023 10:24 AM CST

The planet got incrementally closer to eradicating Guinea worm disease last year. The Carter Center on Tuesday announced there were just 13 cases of the disease reported worldwide in 2022, down two from the year prior for a 13% drop (the initial count of 14 was later confirmed to be one higher). All were documented in sub-Saharan Africa: Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic. Guinea worm infections in animals also fell by 21%, per a press release. The head of the Carter Center's eradication program cautioned that this final phase will be the toughest: "We are truly in the midst of that last mile and experiencing firsthand that it is going to be a very long and arduous last mile," Adam Weiss told the AP.

Jan 30, 2022 11:35 AM CST

Guinea worm infections dropped to just over a dozen worldwide last year, getting closer to fulfilling former President Jimmy Carter's dream of completely eradicating the disease during his lifetime. The Carter Center reported this week that only 14 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in all of 2021, the result of years of public health campaigns to improve access to safe drinking water in Africa. People who drink unclean water can ingest parasites that can grow as long as 3 feet before painfully emerging from the skin, often through the feet or other sensitive parts of the body. The Atlanta-based center founded by Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, said the remaining infections occurred in just four countries in sub-Saharan Africa: Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Mali.

That's a decline of nearly half compared to the previous year, when 27 cases were reported in seven African countries. And it's a staggering drop from when The Carter Center began leading the global eradication effort in 1986, when the parasitic disease infected 3.5 million people. Carter, 97, has made eradicating the disease one of his many missions. "To say that we only have 14 human beings on a planet of almost 8 billion people is quite a phenomenal track record for the Guinea worm program," Adam Weiss, director of The Carter Center’s Guinea Worm Eradication Program, told the AP.

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Guinea worm infections in animals, such as dogs and cats, also declined 45% last year compared to 2020. That's important, Weiss said, because infected pets and domesticated animals can play a role in passing the disease to people. Guinea worm isn't fatal by itself. But according to the CDC, it's a painful and debilitating disease that can leave infected people unable to work until an emerging worm is removed—a slow process that can take weeks. The World Health Organization warns that the remaining cases can be the most difficult to control as they usually occur in remote and often inaccessible areas. Only one human disease has ever been successfully eradicated: smallpox.

(More Guinea worm stories.)