Applications of Spatial Technology in Schistosomiasis Control Programme in The People's Republic of China

Assessment of morbidity due to Schistosoma japonicum infection in China

“…In Rentun village, Qingpu County, Shanghai Municipality, more than 500 persons died from schistosomiasis before 1949 with 97 whole families dying out, while in the remaining 28 households, only one person remained alive. A baby’s crying had not been heard for eight consecutive years in the fourth decade of the 20th century [34]. In Nianzexia village, Guichi County, Anhui Province, all the family members died in 119 out of 120 households, and only four persons in one family were still alive in the early 1950s.…”

“…Importantly, what also added to the seriousness of the situation was that apart from humans, many species of mammals can be infected with S. japonicum and serve as reservoir hosts, i.e., are important sources of the infection [2,28]. By the late 1940s, only a few surveys were done by scientists in China about animal reservoirs [12,22,34]. …”

“…All in all, achievements in schistosomiasis control in China have reduced the human infection rate by more than 97% as compared to the peak estimates in the mid-1950s, and the prevalence in bovine had reduced by more than 98% by 2011 [36]. The decline of the infection and morbidity of S. japonicum was significant but gradual as a whole with some fluctuations in the past six decades [34]. The total area of the Oncomelania snail habitats in the 1950s and 1960s was about 1.4 million hectares, and 372,664 hectares in 2011 [36], a decrease of about 73%.…”

“…In a single village, 95 persons acquired the acute infection among 1,034 persons exposed to the infested water [46]. In 1989, in Wuhan City areas and its suburb along the Yangzi River, thousands of city residents and students acquired the acute disease by swimming in the water during the hot summer [34]. As local hospitals were full of patients, children stopped attending school and classrooms were used as temporary wards for the treatment of the disease.…”

“…Ascetic patients due to schistosomiasis were commonly seen in the endemic areas. In the 1950s and 1960s, they consisted of about one third of the advanced disease, and the number of the subjects was estimated to be as high as several hundred thousands in whole country [34]. In the special hospitals for schistosomiasis with 50 to 100 beds in heavily endemic areas, dozens of ascetic patients could be found, as shown by Figures 6 and 7, which were taken in small hospitals in 1959 in the Guichi County, Anhui Province, and in 1965 in Changshu County, Jiangsu Province, respectively.…”