The Tortoise and the Hare: Guinea Worm, Polio and the Race to Eradication

Introduction Smallpox is no longer with us. Rinderpest, a measles-like virus of cattle, was formally declared extinct in 2011.1 What other diseases might follow? This paper looks at some clear candidates that were due for eradication this year and explores the chances of success and remaining obstacles for guinea worm and polio. The race is on. The classic fable of Æsop is known almost universally by both children and adults. Somehow the tale of an overconfident hare losing a race to a much maligned and slower tortoise has entered our consciousness, although the exact moral lesson is ambiguous. Should we accept the conventional wisdom that ‘slow and steady wins the race’ or is the salient lesson one of not taking on a challenge when filled with hubris; or is it a cautionary tale about having callous over-confidence? Whatever the intention in the fable, there is perhaps a message contained therein that is pertinent to another race – the race to disease eradication. Not since the last case of smallpox in the wild was seen in Somalia in 1977 has a human scourge disappeared from the face of the earth.2 Yet now we are perhaps on the edge of seeing the next plague head to extinction. In 2015, polio and guinea worm can rightly be given the monikers of the hare and tortoise. And the race is not over yet. Guinea worm, or more properly Dracunculus medinensis (‘little dragon from Medina’), is a member of the nematode family that may well be the ‘fiery serpent’ des...
Source: PLOS Currents Outbreaks - Category: Epidemiology Authors: Source Type: research