Vietnam's National Hospital for Tropical Diseases recently treated a 23-year-old man infected with the ultra-rare Medina filaria, or Guinea worm—a parasite doctors hadn't encountered before. He suffered painful abscesses on his legs and arms.
As reported in SaiGon Giai Phong on June 7, 2020, the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi admitted a 23-year-old man from Yên Bái province in northeast Vietnam. He presented with abscesses starting on his legs that spread to his arms, accompanied by intense pain and fatigue.
Surgeons extracted five "rare intestinal worms" measuring 30 to 60 centimeters long. This marks the first documented case of its kind in Vietnam. Experts identified the parasite as the Guinea worm (Dracunculus medinensis), presumed nearly extinct. In the mid-1980s, it caused about 3.5 million cases worldwide; by 2019, only 53 cases were reported in African nations like Angola, Cameroon, South Sudan, and Chad. Authorities are investigating this anomaly.
First described in 1758 by Swedish naturalist Carl von Linné, the Guinea worm causes dracunculiasis, a debilitating tropical disease. Humans contract it by drinking contaminated stagnant water (such as from ponds) or eating infected shellfish containing larvae. The larvae penetrate the intestinal wall and migrate to subcutaneous tissues.
As adults, the worms travel beneath the skin, typically along the legs and feet. To perpetuate the cycle, when the host contacts water, the worm erupts through the skin, releasing larvae.
Per the World Health Organization (WHO), Dracunculus medinensis can grow up to 80 cm long and 2 mm thick. Though rarely fatal, the disease causes excruciating pain, with worms emerging about one year post-infection—a grueling process.
