Guinea Worm (redirected from medina worm)

guinea worm

 or medina worm or dragon worm

Nematode (Dracunculus medinensis) that is a common parasite of humans and other mammals in tropical Asia and Africa and has been introduced into the West Indies and tropical South America. The female grows to 20–48 in. (50–120 cm) long; the male, which dies upon mating, is only about 0.5–1.1 in. (12–29 mm) long. Both sexes live in the connective tissue of the host animal. Humans become infected when they drink water containing tiny crustaceans (e.g., copepods) that have eaten guinea-worm larvae. The disease the guinea worm carries, called dracunculiasis, can be extremely debilitating and painful.

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guinea worm [′gin·ē ‚wərm]

(invertebrate zoology)

Dracunculus medinensis.A parasitic nematode that infects the subcutaneous tissues of humans and other mammals.

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Guinea Worm 

(Dracunculus medinensis), a parasitic roundworm of the family Dracunculidae. The guinea worm causes the human disease dracunculosis. The mature female reaches a length of 120 cm, and the mature male about 4 cm. The guinea worm is distributed in the tropics and subtropics. In the USSR it was widespread in Middle Asia (Staraia Bukhara) until the 1930’s; the worm has been completely eliminated.