Only 10 human cases of Guinea worm were reported worldwide in 2025, the lowest number ever recorded, bringing the ancient disease closer than ever to eradication. The Carter Center announced the historic provisional figure following the one-year anniversary of the passing of the Center’s founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

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Poised to be only the second human disease eradicated after smallpox, the 10 Guinea worm cases mark a 33% decline from the 15 cases reported in 2024.

When The Carter Center assumed leadership of the global Guinea worm eradication campaign in 1986, an estimated 3.5 million human cases occurred annually in 21 countries in Africa and Asia.

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In 2025, two of the 10 provisional human Guinea worm cases were detected in South Sudan and four each in Chad and Ethiopia. Angola, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Mali reported zero human cases for the second consecutive year.

The worms that infect animals are the same species (Dracunculus medinensis) as those that infect humans; therefore, eradication requires stopping infections in both. Once the global epicenter for Guinea worm animal infections, Chad reduced Guinea worm infections in domestic animals by 47%, its sixth consecutive year of progress. In 2025, Chad reported infections in 147 animals, Mali reported 17, Cameroon 445, Angola 70, Ethiopia one, and South Sudan three. Despite reductions in four countries, the global provisional total for animal infections rose slightly, driven by increases in Cameroon and Angola.

As in past years, people in endemic countries received cash rewards for reporting cases of Guinea worm in 2025. Health workers then delivered targeted health education and investigated every report, a system that is essential for detecting remaining cases. In 2025, national programs collectively investigated more than 1 million such rumors, nearly all within 24 hours of notification.

All human and animal Guinea worm figures remain provisional until officially confirmed by each country at the eradication campaign’s global annual meeting, typically held in April.

For a disease to be declared eradicated, every country in the world must be certified free of human and animal infections, even in those where transmission has never been known to occur. To date, the World Health Organization has certified 200 countries free of Guinea worm; only six have not been certified.

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Recent innovations include the development of a diagnostic test that can be used for disease surveillance amongst dogs. This tool, combined with enhanced community-based surveillance, can provide national programs additional information to guide evidence-based decision making and further target program interventions.