A thirty years follow-up study on Schistosomiasis mansoni in a community of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Cardiopulmonary Manifestations of Hepatosplenic Schistosomiasis

“…4 PH corresponds to one of the possible clinical complications of schistosomiasis. 6 About 4% to 8% of patients with chronic schistosomiasis develop hepatosplenic disease 3,7 ; nevertheless, the incidence of PH in this subpopulation is controversial. Some studies have suggested an incidence of 20% to 30% of PH in patients with hepatosplenic disease 8 -10 ; however, the small sample size, different definitions of PH, 5,10,11 and presence of advanced hepatosplenic disease without invasive confirmation of PH 8,9 may impair the extrapolation of these results.…”

Specific schistosomiasis treatment as a strategy for disease control

“…Unfortunately, the results from these campaigns could not be properly investigated, although such evaluations would have been extremely important for disease control efforts. In experimental field studies conducted on a smaller scale, Prata (1970, 1974) in Bahia, Katz et al (1977Katz et al ( , 1980 in Minas Gerais (MG) and Coura et al ( , 1984Coura et al ( , 1992, Conceição and Borges-Pereira (2002) and Conceição et al (2007) in other areas of MG have demonstrated the possibility of reducing the rates and intensities of infection among treated individuals who remained in the endemic area. Furthermore, they have shown a reduction in the progression of the disease to severe forms.…”

“…Personal experience with specific treatment for schistosomiasis as a strategy for control -It has already been proven that large-scale specific treatment for schistosomiasis in endemic areas (excluding the cases with contraindications) can reduce the prevalence of infection over the short term, as well as the morbidity due to the disease over the medium and long term (Jansen 1946, Sette 1953, Rodrigues da Silva 1958, Kloetzel 1963, 1972, Bina & Prata 1974, Prata 1976, Katz et al 1977, 1992, Machado 1982, Conceição et al 2002, 2007. This advance can then be consolidated through repeated treatments (Coura 1995, Coura & Amaral 2004.…”

“…In one of the areas that was followed for up to 30 years (Conceição et al 2007), the prevalence of infection with S. mansoni fell from 60.8% in 1973 to 19.3% in 2003. This occurred after many treatments, thus showing that the treatment alone without any other control measures reduced the prevalence, but was not sufficient to control the infection.…”

Chemotherapie gegen Schistosomiasis

“…[12] Außer in den Gegenden, in denen Schistosomiasis als ein offensichtliches Gesundheitsproblem erkannt wurde, z. B. in Brasilien, [13,14] China, ¾gypten, den Philippinen [15] und einigen afrikanischen Regionen (Nordsenegal und Uganda), wird die Krankheit seitens der Gesundheitsbehçrden oft nicht als oberster Dringlichkeit eingestuft. Vor allen in den Ländern südlich der Sahara gilt eine systematische Eindämmung der Krankheit als nicht bezahlbar.…”