Physical Wellness

Jimmy Carter Says Scans Show no Signs of Cancer

By Cheri Cheng | Update Date: Feb 03, 2016 10:32 AM EST

Former President of the United States Jimmy Carter revealed that his latest scan showed no signs of cancer.

Carter, who will be turning 91 this year, said that the scan he got last week of his torso had no signs of the melanoma cancer cells that were diagnosed in his liver and brain last summer. He added that the results are "promising" but his doctors are still being "very cautious."

"They could be so minute, the cancer points in your body, that sometimes the scans don't detect the cancer that's there," Carter explained to the Associated Press reported by the Washington Post. "So I'm still continuing my treatment on February the 9th."

Carter has been taking anti-melanoma drug Keytruda every three weeks.

Carter has not had any more brain scans since December. The scan taken then showed no signs of the four cancerous lesions that were present before.

"I haven't had more brain scans, but I have had a scan of my chest and abdomen," he said. "These last scans I had last week didn't show any sign of recurrence of the cancer."

Carter is currently in London, where he is discussing his campaign to end the Guinea worm disease, which is a parasitic infection that can be transmitted through contaminated water and food. Carter believes that eradication can happen in a year to two, especially if progress continues. Last year, there were 22 reported cases of the infection throughout the world. In 2014, the total number of cases was 126.

"We've prevented about 80 million people from having Guinea worm, so this is a great accomplishment in itself," Carter said reported by the Star-Telegram.

He added, "Despite the fact that we only have a few cases, we have to monitor thousands of villages to make sure that every time somebody does have Guinea worm, that we can isolate them, keep them out of the water so Guinea worm process won't repeat itself among other people."

Carter's foundation, the Carter Center, has been working to eradicate the disease since 1986.

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