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Monitoring the efficacy of temephos application and use of fine mesh nylon strainers by examination of drinking water containers in guineaworm endemic villages.

Application of temephos in unsafe water sources for destroying cyclops, the intermediate hosts of guineaworm, and distribution of fine mesh nylon strainers for promoting prophylaxis against guineaworm are accepted methods of guineaworm control in different endemic countries. The existing methods of monitoring the efficacy of these guineaworm control methods are not fully informative. Examination of drinking water stored at household levels for presence of cyclops with or without Dracunculus larvae can provide information on the efficacy of these control/prophylactic methods, besides serving as a means of interpersonal health education to the community. This paper presents observations carried out in two villages in peninsular India in 1991, which revealed that while in one village complete absence of cyclops from stored water containers was attributable to the use of temephos in the village and straining of drinking water, in the other village, with no temephos application, 15.6 per cent of containers contained varying numbers of cyclops in them. Implications of these observations for guineaworm eradication activities are discussed.