Dracontiasis in antiquity.

Dracontiasis is an infestation of man by the guineaworm, Dracunculus medinensis; a similar infestation also occurs in animals,' and a related species, Dracunculus insignis, is known to infect racoons, mink, and dogs.2 The disease, at the present time, has a wide distribution throughout tropical and subtropical regions ofthe world. The rate of human infestation varies with the possibility of the definitive host (man) and the alternative host (Cyclops sp.) being able to maintain the life cycle of the parasite.3 Because the life cycle of Dracunulus medinensis was unknown in antiquity, it must have been difficult to make an early diagnosis of the clinical condition, and also to provide satisfactory treatment for the patients. Nevertheless, physicians in antiquity were acute observers of any abnormality, and have provided us with well-documented reports of many human ailments which were not properly diagnosed by them, including some that may be diagnosed as dracontiasis. Some of these texts are discussed below. Text 1. "If thou findest a finger or a toe that is ill, fluid [pus?] goes around them, their smell is bad and they have produced small worms [larvae sg], then thou shalt say thereof: it is a disease which I shall treat. Thou shalt prepare for him remedies to kill sp-worms."4 Text 2. "Instructions concerning 'gwt [larvae?] in any limb of a man. If thou examinest a swelling of 'gwt in any limb ofa man, then thou shalt apply a bandage to it. If thou findest that it goes and comes, piercing through to the flesh which is under it, then thou shalt say concerning it: 'gwt has entered. Thou shalt perform an operation for it, the same being split with a ds-knife and seized with a forceps [hnwh], and then thou shalt remove it with the ds-knife. There is one therein, there is something in it like mndr [brain?] of a mouse; thou shalt remove it with a sgs-knife without taking away