Combating Disease with Jimmy Carter

About This Episode

Humanity has only ever eradicated one disease: Smallpox. Now, we are on the verge of eradicating the painful disease caused by the Guinea Worm. Find out about the effort to combat Guinea Worm when former President Jimmy Carter gives Neil deGrasse Tyson a progress report from the front lines. You’ll discover how Carter has used diplomacy, education and other tools to reduce worldwide cases from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 126 today. In studio, Neil and Chuck Nice find out about germs and parasites from “The Leech Guy,” Mark Siddall, curator of “Countdown to Zero,” the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibit in conjunction with The Carter Center. Get the excruciating details about the Guinea Worm’s lifecycle, including how they burst out of the human body to reproduce. Learn about the war on other diseases like River Blindness and Malaria, and how important education and vaccination is. Finally, Bill Nye stops by to tell us how our real enemies are the ones we can’t see without a microscope.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Combating Disease with Jimmy Carter.