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Rebecca Voelker

JAMA. 2007;298:1856-1857.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Last February, when Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben, PhD, accompanied former US President Jimmy Carter and his staff to Savelugu, Ghana, they were greeted with a heart-wrenching sight. More than 300 people, mostly children, flocked to a makeshift dracunculiasis clinic, hoping to obtain relief for pain so intense that the ancient Egyptians had called it a fiery serpent.

"It breaks your heart to see so much misery," says Ruiz-Tiben, director of dracunculiasis eradication at the Carter Center, a nonprofit human rights organization founded by the former president.

Guinea worm eradication efforts include teaching simple interventions to stop transmission and treating those infected by removing worms and treating the lesions to avoid secondary infection. (Photo credit: Left: A. Poyo/The Carter Center; right: The Carter Center.)

The trip to Savelugu was precipitated by news that more than 1000 cases of dracunculiasis, or guinea worm disease, had been reported in Ghana in January. Savelugu, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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