Some personal views on the control of schistosomiasis mansoni

Our views are based, among other, on a recent study of a district of União dos Palmares (Alagoas). Although being a very compact community (32 city blocks holding two thousand families), transmission is very uneven, the geometric mean egg counts in the various blocks ranging between extremes of 96 a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 1992, Vol.87 Suppl 4 (suppl 4), p.221-226
Main Author: Kloetzel, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Animals
Brazil - epidemiology
Child
Child, Preschool
control
Drug Evaluation
Humans
Parasite Egg Count
PARASITOLOGY
Sanitation - economics
Schistosoma mansoni
Schistosomiasis mansoni - drug therapy
Schistosomiasis mansoni - epidemiology
Schistosomiasis mansoni - prevention & control
Schistosomiasis mansoni - transmission
Schistosomicides - therapeutic use
Socioeconomic Factors
TROPICAL MEDICINE
Urban Population
Vaccination
Water Pollution - economics
Water Pollution - prevention & control
Water Supply
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Summary:Our views are based, among other, on a recent study of a district of União dos Palmares (Alagoas). Although being a very compact community (32 city blocks holding two thousand families), transmission is very uneven, the geometric mean egg counts in the various blocks ranging between extremes of 96 and 1920. (Results do not correlate with the availability of domestic water supply). We thus are led to conclude that: (a) transmission is primarily peridomestic, resulting from pollution of open ditches and other collections of water; (b) control of transmission can be done on a selective basis, requiring quite modest investments. Given the inefficacy of population-based chemotherapy, when used alone, the author insists that this alternative cannot any longer be overlooked. He also regrets the emphasis placed upon vaccine development; allegations that this would, at any rate, prevent severe morbidity can be dismissed, since-whatever the cause-morbidity due to schistosomiasis has been rapidly declining in Northeast Brazil.
ISSN:0074-0276
1678-8060
0074-0276
1678-8060
DOI:10.1590/S0074-02761992000800034