How Jimmy Carter helped to practically wipe the horrific Guinea worm parasite off the face of the earth

Former US President Jimmy Carter. Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images

• Former US President Jimmy Carter played a major role in nearly wiping out the Guinea worm disease.
• Since 1986, the Carter Center has led the global campaign to annihilate Guinea worm disease.
• Cases of the parasitic infection plummeted to an all-time low in 2022, thanks to Carter's efforts.

The world has former President Jimmy Carter to thank for nearly eliminating the Guinea worm disease off the face of the Earth. 

Carter, who at 98 is the nation's oldest and longest-lived former American president, started receiving hospice care at his Georgia home over the weekend "to spend his remaining time" with his family, The Carter Center announced on Saturday. 

Here's a look back at how the Democratic 39th president of the United States led the fight against Guinea worm, a parasitic infection contracted when water is consumed from stagnant sources contaminated with Guinea worm larvae. 

Since 1986, The Carter Center, a non-profit organization founded by Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter, has led the international campaign to annihilate Guinea worm disease in people. 

Jimmy Carter and wife, Rosalynn, in 1977. Getty Images

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease — which results in painful skin lesions — primarily affects poor communities in remote parts of Africa that do not have safe water to drink.

There is no drug treatment or vaccine to prevent Guinea worm disease, but thanks to the efforts of The Carter Center, cases of the disease have plummeted to an all-time low.

When Jimmy Carter began leading the global effort to eradicate the disease in 1986 with the help of partners including the World Health Organization and the CDC, an estimated 3.5 million human cases of Guinea worm were found annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia. 

Guinea worm cases have since dropped by more than 99.99% to a record low of only 13 reported cases worldwide in 2022, the Carter Center announced earlier this year. 

Jimmy Carter said at the time in a statement that he and his wife were "pleased with this continued advance toward eradicating Guinea worm disease."

"Our partners, especially those in the affected villages, work with us daily to rid the world of this scourge," the former president said, adding, "We are heartened that eradication can be achieved soon."

While Guinea worm infections have nearly been eradicated in humans, animals are still getting infected. The Carter Center said that in 2022, it found about 680 infections in animals across Chad, Mali, Cameroon, Angola, Ethiopia, and South Sudan.

The Carter Center says its strategy to stamp out the disease has been to work with ministries of health to stop the spread "by providing health education and helping to maintain political will."

"The Guinea Worm Eradication Program is wiping out this ancient disease mainly through community-based interventions to educate and change behavior, such as teaching people to filter all drinking water and preventing transmission by keeping anyone with an emerging worm from entering water sources," the Carter Center says on its website. 

Guinea worm disease is on track to become the second human disease in history, after smallpox, to be eradicated.