Dracunculiasis, also called Guinea-worm disease, is aparasitic infection by the Guinea worm,Dracunculus medinensis. A person becomes infected by drinking water contaminated with Guinea-wormlarvae, which penetrate thedigestive tract and escape into the body. Around a year later, the adult female migrates to an exit site – usually the lower leg – and induces an intensely painfulblister on the skin. Eventually, the blister bursts, creating a painful wound from which the worm gradually emerges. The wound remains painful throughout the worm's emergence, disabling the affected person for the three to ten weeks it takes the worm to emerge. There is no medication to treat or prevent dracunculiasis. Instead, the mainstay of treatment is the careful wrapping of the emerging worm around a small stick or gauze to encourage and speed up its exit. A disease of extreme poverty, there were 14 cases reported worldwide in 2023, as efforts continue toeradicate it. (Full article...)
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May 22:National Maritime Day in the United States
 | In the Loge, also known asAt the Opera, is an 1878impressionist painting by the American artistMary Cassatt. Theoil-on-canvas painting displays abourgeois woman in aloge at the opera house looking through her opera glasses, while a man in the background looks at her. The woman's costume and fan make clear her upper class status. Art historians see the painting as commentary on the role of gender, looking, and power in the social spaces of the nineteenth century. The painting is currently in the collection of theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston, which also holds a preliminary drawing for the work. Painting credit:Mary Cassatt Recently featured: |
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