Drancunculiasis can be contacted through

Analyze the question: Drancunculiasis (properly spelled dracunculiasis) is the disease caused by the Guinea worm, Dracunculus medinensis. The question asks how people get infected ("contacted" here means "contracted").

Explain the concept:

• Guinea worm larvae live inside tiny freshwater crustaceans called Cyclops (water fleas) found in stagnant water, such as ponds and step wells.
• When a person drinks water containing infected Cyclops, stomach acid kills the crustacean and frees the larvae.
• The larvae penetrate the intestinal wall and mature in the body. After about a year, the adult female worm migrates to the skin, usually the legs and feet, and creates a painful blister.
• When the person puts the affected limb in water to relieve the burning, the worm releases new larvae, and the cycle continues.

Go through the options:

• A. Eating contaminated food: this is not the main route. It is associated with other diseases such as typhoid and food poisoning.
• B. Drinking contaminated water: correct. This is how the infected Cyclops enter the body.
• C. Bathing in contaminated water: this is how the worm spreads larvae into the water, but it is not how a person gets infected. It is a better description of schistosomiasis (bilharzia).
• D. Bites of blackfly: this transmits onchocerciasis (river blindness), not Guinea worm.

Answer: B, drinking contaminated water.

Tip: Remember the pairings:

• Guinea worm: drinking water with Cyclops
• Bilharzia: skin contact with water containing snail-released larvae
• River blindness: blackfly (Simulium)
• Malaria: female Anopheles mosquito