A patient will develop a painful skin blister, through which a
worm will emerge about 10 to 14 months after infection. The worm
can be up to three feet long, and looks like a very long
spaghetti noodle. When the patient heads to a body of water to
try to soothe the fiery pain, the worm deposits more larvae in
the water, and the cycle starts over. No vaccines or treatments
are available for Guinea worm, but the international effort has
made significant strides with health education and encouraging
behavior changes. Prevention strategies include filtering
drinking water and discouraging people with Guinea worm from
wading in water. Water can also be chemically treated with
larvicide. While Guinea worm disease does not usually result in
death, it is associated with incapacitating pain and secondary
bacterial infections. Patients find it difficult to work, farm
and function. In a household where a parent has had Guinea worm,
toddlers will be less well nourished because the infected parent
will have difficulty far