Dracunculus Medinensis

Paper Summary:

Although water is essential to sustaining life on Earth, it can sometimes carry hazards to people if there are no ways to filter and disinfect the water. This paper shows that examples of places where there are problems in water filtration and disinfection are third world nations and in those with warmer climates, there is a steady occurrence of dracunculiasis (in humans) caused by the Dracunculus medinensis nematode (roundworm (Dracunculiasis), also known as "Guinea Worm" and "Fiery Serpent of the Israelites". The paper shows common symptoms andteatment for round worm.

From the Paper:

"The surviving larvae make their way to the lower extremities (in most cases) and continue to mature there (Despommier 59). After maturing and mating, the males, which not much is known about, apparently die off and the females continue to live. The full maturation of the females takes approximately a full year. During this time, they can grow close to or over 1 meter (100+ cm) long. The average diameter of the worm is close to 2mm, which is comparable to a spaghetti noodle. When the female is ready to release her larvae, she migrates towards the cutaneous layers of the skin and releases enzymes which create a blister (Despommier 59, Dracunculiasis). Along with this blister comes swelling, slight fever and a burning sensation (note the name Fiery Serpent) which usually drives the infected person to immerse the blistered limb in water. By immersing the blister in water, it ruptures and the larvae are released into water, thus starting the life cycle over again (Gutierrez 416, United States). If the larvae do not find a suitable host for their first stages, they die off."

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