For untold generations here [Nigeria], yardlong, spaghetti-thin worms erupted from the legs or feet — or even eye sockets — of victims, forcing their way out by exuding acid under the skin until it bubbled and burst. The searing pain drove them to plunge the blisters into the nearest pool of water, whereupon the worm would squirt out a milky cloud of larvae, starting the cycle anew.
"The pain is like if you stab somebody," said Hyacinth Igelle, a farmer with a worm coming out of a hand so swollen and tender that he could not hold a hoe. He indicated how the pain moved slowly up his arm. "It is like fire — it comes late, but you feel it even unto your heart."
Now, thanks to a relentless 20-year campaign led by former President Jimmy Carter, Guinea worm is poised to become the first disease since smallpox to be pushed into oblivion. Fewer than 12,000 cases were found last year, down from 3 million in 1986.
New York Times has a Sunday feature.
Too bad so many otherwise sensible people disregard the Times as just another leftist rag of that despised MSM. But what the hey! When the talk about Jimmy Carter it only proves the point, right? On this weekend of progressive resurgence, with embarrasement about that guy's plagiarism, Latinos in the street and the president's slip about "future presidents" (plural)...I expect a lot of big guns are being loaded for some big journalistic volley next week.
I, for one, can wait.
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Jimmy Carter and Guinea Worms
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I too, read the story of the guinea worms, the pools, and the cycle that has kept them alive since the time of mummies.
I was particularly amazed about the lost pond, and how the local ladies fought to keep it from being treated with the pesticide. It seems that their ancestors had cried all night in pain, haunting them. It was treated sucessfully after much discussion. It is true that "Change" is often more frightening that the pain that one endures daily...in this case, generations.
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