A neglected tropical disease that has afflicted people since ancient times could be eradicated soon, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. In early March, 12 more countries were declared free from guinea-worm disease, or dracunculiasis. If progress continues at this rate, in less than two years guinea worm could become the second disease after smallpox to be pushed into oblivion, the UN agency said in a statement. In the early 1980s, an estimated 3 million people in more than 20 countries were affected by guinea-worm disease. Today, that number has significantly dropped to about 25,000 cases in nine African countries, WHO said. ‘This is the culmination of years of effort by local and international groups to see this disease eradicated,’ said Dr Lorenzo Savioli, director of neglected tropical diseases at WHO. The Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication, a WHO-affiliated body of experts, has declared 180 countries as guinea worm-free since 1995 and now it is moving closer to its 2009 target for eradication of the disease worldwide, WHO said. For countless generations, people have suffered from guinea- worm disease, which is now still endemic in some villages of sub- Saharan Africa. […]