Number of cases of Guinea worm disease in African countries 2014-2015
This statistic outlines the number of cases of Guinea worm disease in selected Saharan African countries in 2014 and 2015. In fact, these four countries are the only countries where the disease currently occurs. In South Sudan in 2014 there were 70 cases, and in 2015 this number was down to five. In Ethiopia in 2014 the number of cases was three, and in 2015 there were three also cases. The Guinea worm is a meter-long parasite that slowly emerges from a blister on it's host's skin. It afflicted 3.5 million people in 20 African and Asian countries annually in the mid 1980's. In 2015 this number was down to 22 people in South Sudan, Mali, Chad, and Ethiopia.