Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter is dead at the age of 100.
Carterdiedat his home in Plains, Georgia on Sunday, nearly two years after he first began hospice care.
Guinea worm is a parasite with such longstanding notoriety that itsreferencedin the Old Testament.
Jimmy Carter delivering a lecture on the eradication of the Guinea worm in 2016.© Eddie Mullholland-WPA Pool via Getty
The larvae reach our intestines, where they fully mature and mate.
About a year after infection, the females cause a blister to form.
The female then releases thousands of larvae into the water, restarting the whole process.
A patient with a Guinea worm infection. The foot is soaked in cold water to coax the worm out. © Louise Gubb/Corbis via Getty
This infection isnt just unpleasant to sufferits often downright debilitating.
And its beena clear success.
Carter and his organization dont deserve all the credit, of course.
Not everything has gone smoothly for the campaign.
This latest development has impeded the Guinea worm eradication timeline.
But health officials and communities in endemic areas are adapting.
Jimmy Carter said in 2015 that he hoped to see theGuinea worm completely eradicatedbefore his death.
Sadly, that didnt happen.
But Carter certainly has left behind a monumental public health legacy that will endure long after his passing.
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