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Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever and bilharzia,[1] is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes.[2] The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected.[2] Symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody stool, or blood in the urine.[2] Those who have been infected for a long time may experience liver damage, kidney failure, infertility, or bladder cancer.[2] In children, it may cause poor growth and learning difficulty.[2]

The disease is caused by contact with fresh water containing the parasites.[2] These parasites are from infected freshwater snails.[2] The disease is very common among children in developing countries, as they are more likely to play in water.[2] Other high-risk groups include farmers, fishermen, and people using unclean water.[2] It is a helminth infections.[3] Eggs of the parasite may be found in urine or stool.[2] Antibodies may also be found in the blood.[2]

To prevent the disease use clean water and reduce snails.[2] The medicine praziquantel may be given once a year to everybody.[2] This will decrease the number of people infected.[2] Praziquantel is also the treatment recommended by the World Health Organization for those who are known to be infected.[2]

Schistosomiasis affected about 252 million people in 2015.[4] An estimated 4,400 to 200,000 people die from it each year.[5][6] The disease is mainly found in Africa, Asia, and South America.[2] About 700 million people, in more than 70 countries, live where the disease is common.[5][7] In tropical countries, schistosomiasis causes a great economic problem.[8] Schistosomiasis is listed as a neglected tropical disease.[9]

Schistosomiasis Media

  • Calcification of the bladder wall caused by deposition of calcium around the Schistosoma eggs on a plain X-ray image of the pelvis, in a 44-year-old sub-Saharan man, due to urinary schistosomiasis

  • Life cycle of Schistosoma spp.

  • Lifecycle stages of a typical trematode, Schistosoma japonicum.

  • High-powered detailed micrograph of Schistosoma parasite eggs in human bladder tissue

  • S. japonicum eggs in hepatic portal tract

  • "Schistosomes are here. People and livestock are strictly prohibited from entering the water!", a warning painted on a Yangtze levee in Honghu, Hubei, China

  • Ethiopian children treated for Schistosoma mansoni

References

  1. ↑ Human schistosomiasis. Lancet 383 (9936) (June 2014). p. 2253–64. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)61949-2.
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Schistosomiasis Fact sheet N°115 (3 February 2014)World Health Organization. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  3. ↑ Chapter 3 Infectious Diseases Related To Travel (1 August 2013)cdc.gov. Retrieved 30 November 2014.
  4. ↑ Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 310 diseases and injuries, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet 388 (10053) (October 2016). p. 1545–1602. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)31678-6.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Schistosomiasis chemotherapy. Angewandte Chemie 52 (31) (July 2013). p. 7936–56. doi:10.1002/anie.201208390.
  6. ↑ Global, regional, and national life expectancy, all-cause mortality, and cause-specific mortality for 249 causes of death, 1980-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. Lancet 388 (10053) (October 2016). p. 1459–1544. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(16)31012-1.
  7. ↑ Schistosomiasis A major public health problemWorld Health Organization. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  8. ↑ The Carter Center. Schistosomiasis Control Program. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
  9. ↑ Neglected Tropical Diseases (6 June 2011)cdc.gov. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
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