WORMS – There are five new confirmed corona cases in Worms. This was announced by the Alzey-Worms health department on Wednesday. This means that 81 worms have now tested positive for the virus. There are two new corona cases in the Wonnegau association, and one in the Monsheim association.
A total of seven people were infected with the new virus in VG Monsheim and 29 in VG Wonnegau. For the Eich community, the health authority corrected the statistics from eleven to ten cases. 17 of the 81 worms that caught the virus are now considered healthy again and have therefore been released from quarantine.
- Effective surveillance to detect all cases within 24 hours of worm emergence and containment of all cases;
- Ensuring access to safe drinking water and converting unsafe sources to safe ones;
- The construction of copings around wellheads or the installation of boreholes with handpumps. This would prevent not only dracunculiasis but also diarrhoeal diseases.
- Regular and systematic filtering of drinking water derived from ponds and shallow unprotected wells or from surface water. Finely-meshed cloth or, better still, a filter made from a 0.15 mm nylon mesh, is all that is needed to filter out the cyclops from the drinking water;
- Treatment of unsafe water sources with temephos to kill the cyclops;
- Health education and social mobilization to encourage affected communities to adopt healthy drinking water behavior.
If these measures are implemented by village communities, the ultimate goal of eradicating guinea-worm disease will be achieved.
