Summary of the Fortieth Meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication (ITFDE) October 28-29, 2025

Overview

The 40th meeting of the International Task Force for Disease Eradication (ITFDE) was
convened in a hybrid (in-person and virtual) format at The Carter Center (TCC) in
Atlanta, GA, USA, on October 28-29, 2025, to discuss “the status of dracunculiasis
(Guinea worm) eradication.”

Guinea worm disease (GWD), or dracunculiasis, is caused by the parasite Dracunculus
medinensis. When emerging gravid female worms discharge their larvae into stagnant
freshwater, the larvae can be consumed by tiny copepods (“water fleas”), which serve
as intermediate hosts where the larvae develop from immature first-stage larvae (L1s)
to infectious third-stage larvae (L3s). Definitive hosts, such as people or non-human
animals, can ingest water or eat raw/under-cooked aquatic animals such as fish or frogs
(or aquatic animal waste) containing infected copepods or viable infectious L3s and
become infected with D. medinensis. When this occurs, L3s migrate within the host’s
body where they mate, and the female worms mature over the next 10-14 months before
emerging through the definitive host’s skin. Although contact with water soothes the
host’s pain, it also stimulates the worm to release thousands of L1s, continuing the transmission cycle.