guinea worm

guinea worm   n.  A long threadlike nematode worm (Dracunculus medinensis) of tropical Asia and Africa that is a subcutaneous parasite of humans and other mammals and causes ulcerative lesions on the legs and feet. [After the Guinea coast of Africa.]

Main Entry: guinea worm
Function: noun
: a slender nematode worm of the genus Dracunculus (D. medinensis) attaining a length of several feet, being parasitic as anadult in the subcutaneous tissues of mammals including humans in tropical regions, and having a larva that develops in small freshwater crustaceans (as copepods of the genus Cyclops) and wheningested with drinking water passes through the intestinal wall and tissues to lodge beneath the skin of a mammalian host where it matures called also Medina worm

guinea worm n.
A long, threadlike nematode of tropical Asia and Africa that is a subcutaneous parasite of humans and other mammals and causes ulcerative lesions on the legs and feet.