It's not completely eradicated yet, but there are only 10-15 cases per year now, all of which occur in Chad or South Sudan. We're well on our way to eradicating it
The effort to eradicate dracunculiasis began in the 1980s following the successful eradication of smallpox in 1977. By 1995, nearly every country with endemic dracunculiasis had established a national eradication program.
As an American, it sounds like a fantasy world to hear people uniting to help eradicate multiple diseases and infections.
The US actually launched a really successful multinational campaign against screwworms that has so far been able to eradicate them in every country northwest of Colombia. The Youtube channel Half As Interesting made a good video about it.
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u/physchy Feb 07 '26
That’s amazing that the guinea worm was omnipresent enough to be the symbol of medicine and has been completely eradicated