ATLANTA (AP) -
The Carter Center has received $40 million in new donations to help its campaign to eradicate the Guinea worm disease by 2015.
The Atlanta-based center said Monday the donations come from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation and President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates.
There were 3.5 million cases of the debilitating disease when the Carter Center began working to eradicate it in 1986. The center said Monday a tally showed only 1,060 cases of Guinea worm occurred worldwide in 2011.
The disease occurs when people drink water contaminated with worm larvae. The worm causes debilitating pain as it grows but it is rarely fatal. There is no vaccine or medicine for the parasite.
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