Biomedical subjects

Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben

Publications and source records attributed to Ernesto Ruiz-Tiben.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease) eradication.

Since the seminal review by Ralph Muller about Dracunculus and dracunculiasis in this serial publication in 1971, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and The Carter Center forged, during the 1980s, a coalition of organizations to support a campaign to eradicate dracunculiasis. Eighteen of 20 countries were known in 1986 to have endemic dracunculiasis, i.e., Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, and Uganda. Transmission of the disease in Yemen was documented in 1995, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Central African Republic endemic in 1995. As of the end of 2004, a total of 16026 cases of dracunculiasis were reported from 12 endemic countries (91% of these cases were reported from Ghana and Sudan, combined), a reduction greater than 99% from the 3.5 million cases of dracunculiasis estimated in 1986 to occur annually; the number of endemic villages has been reduced by >91%, from the 23475 endemic villages in 1991; disease transmission has been interrupted in 9 of the 20 endemic countries; and WHO has certified 168 countries free of dracunculiasis, including Pakistan (1996), India (2000), Senegal and Yemen (2004). Asia is now free of dracunculiasis.

Africa↗

PubMed2006

Uganda's successful Guinea Worm Eradication Program.

Having begun its national Guinea Worm Eradication Program (UGWEP) in 1991 (1991 population, 16.6 million) with the third-highest number of cases reported by any endemic country, and ranked as the second-highest endemic country in the world in 1993, by 2004, Uganda celebrated its first full calendar year with no indigenous cases of the disease. Systematic interventions began in 1992 and were gradually intensified until the final indigenous case occurred in July 2003. The favorable concentration of most cases in relatively few northern districts of the country was partly offset by chronic insecurity in much of the endemic area and by repeated importations of cases from neighboring Sudan. Strong support and dedicated leadership by government officials and external partners were keys to this program's dramatic success. This program cost approximately US dollar 5.6 million.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Dracunculiasis eradication: the final inch.

This report summarizes the status of the Dracunculiasis Eradication Program as of early 2005. Nine of the 20 countries that were endemic for this disease when the program began have already interrupted transmission, Asia is free of Guinea worm, and five of the remaining disease-endemic countries reported less than 50 cases each in 2004. Ghana and Sudan each reported 45% of the 16,026 cases in 2004. Except for Sudan, whose reports are delayed, cases in the remaining disease-endemic countries were reduced by 61% during the first quarter of 2005 compared with the same period of 2004. With accelerating momentum towards zero cases in all countries, the recent settlement of Sudan's north-south civil war, and a new challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the way now seems clear to finish eradicating dracunculiasis by 2009 in Sudan and earlier elsewhere. "The rule of the final inch... The work has been almost completed, the goal almost attained... In that moment of fatigue and self-satisfaction it is especially tempting to leave the work without having attained the apex of quality... In fact, the rule of the Final Inch consists in this: not to shirk this crucial work. Not to postpone it... And not to mind the time spent on it, knowing that one's purpose lies... in the attainment of perfection."--Alexander Solzhenitzyn, The First Circle.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Dracunculiasis eradication: and now, Sudan.

This paper summarizes the status of the global dracunculiasis eradication campaign as of early 2002. Of the 20 countries that were endemic when the campaign began, seven have already interrupted transmission, four countries reported less than 100 cases each, and only five countries reported more than 1,000 cases each in 2001. Only 14,000 cases remained outside Sudan in 2001. Sudan reported 78% of all cases of dracunculiasis in 2001, and virtually all of Sudan's cases were in the southern states, where the long-standing civil war limits accessibility to endemic areas. A political settlement of the war is now urgently needed, since it will be impossible to complete the eradication of dracunculiasis without peace in Sudan.

Dracunculiasis↗