{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02264808362369338, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0017421602787456446, 'mean_word_length': 5.963636363636364, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Slaying little dragons: lessons from the dracunculiasis eradication program.

The word dracunculiasis comes from the Latin phrase “afflicted with little dragons.” The global Dracunculiasis Eradication Program (DEP) spearheaded by President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center has quietly “inched” towards world eradication with stunning success, as shown in Figure 1. In the midst of huge publicity and monies going into such global health campaigns as polio eradication, malaria, tuberculosis, and human immunodeficiency virus control, global guinea worm eradication is occurring without vaccine or curative therapy. As illustrated in this issue of the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the DEP has implemented grass-root innovative public health initiatives in Uganda with the help of multiple external donors. 1 Despite civil strife, arguments about vertical or horizontal implementation strategies, migrating infected refugees, and egregious safety insecurities, the Uganda eradication effort succeeded and thus has much to teach us about tenacity, flexibility, and cooperative innovative strategies within infected communities.