Cooking copepods: The survival of cyclopoid copepods (Crustacea: Copepoda) in simulated provisioned water containers and implications for the Guinea Worm Eradication Program in Chad, Africa

Cooking infected copepods: On the survival of Guinea worm larvae

“…I would agree with the authors' conclusion as long as the death of the copepods entailed the death of D. medinensis larvae harbored by infected copepods at the same temperatures of the experiment conducted by Cleveland et al (2020). Environmental conditions that kill copepods might not have the same effect on GW larvae, which can remain active inside the body cavity of dead copepods for up to 4 h (Moorthy, 1932).…”

“…Whilst copepods were still alive in the glass, plastic, and gourd containers after 8 h of exposure to high temperatures, the water fleas died within approximately 4 h in the metal containers. As a result, the authors conclude that the use of these metal containers could be a useful tool when trying to interrupt the transmission of D. medinensis among dogs (Cleveland et al, 2020).…”

“…I have read with interest the article by Cleveland et al related to the survival of copepods, i.e., intermediate hosts of the Guinea worm (GW), Dracunculus medinensis, in water placed in containers made of diverse materials, such as plastic, glass, gourd, and metal, at different temperatures (Cleveland et al, 2020). The reason for this experiment is based on the fact that in several African countries, mainly in Chad, dogs are productive reservoirs of dracunculiasis, reaching high rates of infection, thus jeopardizing GW eradication.…”