Cultural considerations in guinea worm eradication programmes

The area most severely affected by dracunculiasis is West Africa especially Benin; Ghana; Cote d'Ivoire; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Togo; and Burkina Faso. It is estimated that about 10-48 million infections occur annually; especially among adults of working age. Adult male farmers in endemic areas are particularly at risk of infection; apparently because of the large volume of water they are likely to consume from contaminated surface sources while working in the fields (2). There are at present in Nigeria at least three million people infected with guinea worm. Even though fatal cases of the disease are rare; except when secondarily complicated by tetanus; the socio-economic toll is substantial

Aflatoxin and human diseases

Fungi invasion of our agricultural products and food lead to mouldiness and production of mycotoxin . These mycotoxin are toxic secondary metabolites elaborated by the fungi. They can cause diseases generally referred to as mycotoxicoses; the fungi per se are not involved in the disease process. One of such secondary metabolites of mouldiness is aflatoxin (which are exotoxin). The aflatoxin - producing species of fungi belong to the genus aspergillus Micheli 1729; which forms a large proportion of all the moulds encountered in our agricultural and industrial works. Their contamination of the foods and feeds (maize; sorghum; millet; rice; wheat soyabean etc) constitute an important toxicological hazard