Prevention
There is no vaccine to prevent, nor is there any medication to treat the disease. Prevention is possible however and it is through preventive strategies that the disease is on the verge of eradication. Prevention strategies include:
heightening surveillance to detect every case within 24 hours of worm emergence;
preventing transmission from each worm by treatment, cleaning and bandaging regularly the affected skin-area until the worm is completely expelled from the body;
preventing drinking water contamination by advising the patient to avoid wading into water;
ensuring wider access to improved drinking-water supplies to prevent infection;
filtering water from open water bodies before drinking;
implementing vector control by using the larvicide temephos;
promoting health education and behaviour change.