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A devastating tropical disease that health experts had hoped to eradicate by the end of last year is now being transmitted to humans via dogs, a study has warned.
Guinea worm is usually caught by drinking water contaminated with fleas that carry the parasite larvae, but scientists have discovered a new pathway for transmission traced back to dogs eating infested fish.
The worms mate and grow inside a person's body, and after 10-14 months the 3ft-long (1 metre) adult worm emerges, usually from the arms or legs, to shed its larvae back into water.
There were 3.5 million cases of guinea worm worldwide in 1986 but eradication programmes helped cut that number to just 27 in 2020.
The devastating tropical disease Guinea worm is now being transmitted to humans via dogs, a study has warned. This pictures shows a Guinea worm emerging from a dog's leg
The worms mate and grow inside a person's body, and after 10-14 months the 3ft-long (1 metre) adult worm emerges, usually from the arms or legs, to shed its larvae back into water
The World Health Organization (WHO) had set a target of wiping it out by the end of last year, which would have made it only the second human disease to be eradicated, but health chiefs have since pushed that date to 2030.
Now it has emerged that
