Guinea worm cases down 59 percent in Eastern Region

Reported cases of Guinea worm in Ghana's Eastern Region dropped 59 percent - from 241 in 1999 to 97 last year - the area's director of health services said.

'The Ghanaian Chronicle' reported Dr. Aaaron Offei as saying that fewer villages reported infections in 2000. He said 87.6 percent of the 97 cases detected that year were contained. The remainder were those whose worms emerged before reporting, he said, "therefore, these cases did not meet our definition of case containment." He said 366 village ponds were infected or suspected of being infected, and of these, 327 were treated, representing 89.3 percent coverage.