Given all the talk about the hepatitis C drug Sovaldi in recent weeks, as well as the high prices on many other recent innovations, you might think that we’re entering a time when leaps forward happen only at great cost. That misses the point. It also strengthens the false notion that we can move forward only through advances in technology. As I said in another column not long ago, people are more important than technology.

To illustrate this point, let’s talk about the Guinea worm.

Formally known as Dracunculus medensis, the Guinea worm is a parasite that plagues humans, and only humans. People become infected when they drink water that’s infested with the worm’s larvae. After mating inside their hosts’ gastrointestinal tracts, the female worms eventually grow to almost a yard long, then push their way to the skin and create sores by which they can leave the body. They exit very slowly, causing excruciating, burning pain as they do so.

There is no treatment for guinea worms. There’s no vaccine. The best we can do is to wrap the part of the worm that’s exposed around a stick and slowly pull it out. That can take weeks. One of the few ways to soothe the pain is to submerge the worm and the sore in water, which is, of course, exactly what you don’t want to do, as it allows the worm to release its larvae and start the cycle over again.

People who are infected are incapacitated. It’s hard for them to work or to care for their families. The parasite rarely kills, but it can leave people ill for months. People can easily develop secondary infections. Rupturing the worm can lead to severe allergic reactions. Depending on where the worm emerges, lifelong disability can result.