%0 Journal Article
%T A diagnostic challenge for schistosomiasis japonica in China: consequences on praziquantel-based morbidity control
%A Yi-biao Zhou
%A Hui-min Zheng
%A Qing-wu Jiang
%J Parasites & Vectors
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1756-3305-4-194
%X Schistosomiasis or 'bilharzia' continues to be a serious public health problem worldwide. The main disease-causing species are Schistosoma japonicum, S. mansoni, and S. haematobium, which affect more than 200 million people in approximately 70 countries, resulting in a loss of 1.53 million disability-adjusted life years [1,2]. Schistosomiasis japonica is one of the major tropical diseases in China, with a documented history of > 2,100 years [3]. In the mid 1950s at the beginning of the National Control Program, schistosomiasis was endemic in 4,078 townships, belonging to 433 counties/cities of 12 provinces and the estimates of the maximum number of people infected ranged between 10.5 and 11.8 million [4,5]. From the mid-1950s to 1980s, comprehensive control measures were carried out with an emphasis on the control of the intermediate host i.e. the snail, by means of environmental management, which targeted the interruption of transmission. Great success was accomplished in four out of twelve endemic provinces and in two-thirds of the endemic counties/cities. Endemic regions were then circumscribed in certain core areas, such as the middle and low reaches of the Yangtze River as well as endemic hilly and mountainous regions in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, where achieving sustainable control is very difficult and the endemic levels fluctuated in the 1980s [6]. Following the discovery of praziquantel, the global strategy of schistosomiasis control shifted from transmission control to morbidity control [7]. In China the praziquantel-based morbidity control strategy has been practiced on a large scale in endemic regions since the 1990s, especially during the 10-year World Bank Loan Project (WBLP), which ran from 1992 to 2001 [8]. The consequence of such an effective control program based on mass or selective chemotherapy was a significant reduction in prevalence and infection intensities with Schistosoma japonicum in humans [8]. At present, selective chemotherapy with p
%K Schistosomiasis
%K Schistosoma japonicum
%K Parasitological examination
%K Immunodiagnosis
%K Chemotherapy
%U http://www.parasitesandvectors.com/content/4/1/194