Progress toward global eradication of dracunculiasis, January 2005-May 2007.

The World Health Assembly first adopted a resolution calling for the eradication of dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) in 1986, when an estimated 3.5 million cases were reported in 20 countries, and 120 million persons were at risk for the disease. This report describes the continued progress of the dracunculiasis eradication program worldwide during July 2005-May 2007. As of May 2007, dracunculiasis was still endemic in nine of the 20 countries cited in 1986; in 2006, approximately 98% of dracunculiasis cases worldwide were reported from Ghana and Sudan, and five other countries reported fewer than 30 cases each. The number of dracunculiasis cases increased from 10,674 in 2005 to 25,217 cases in 2006, with nearly all of the increase reported in Sudan, before decreasing from 9,510 during January-May 2006 to 4,460 cases during January-May 2007. Continued intensification of interventions against transmission of dracunculiasis will be necessary to eradicate dracunculiasis in the nine countries where the disease remains endemic.