The role of 'passive chemotherapy' plus health education for schistosomiasis control in China during maintenance and consolidation phase.
In order to explore the possibility of further optimising schistosomiasis control during the maintenance and consolidation phase in China, two highly endemic villages were selected to compare the strategy of 'passive chemotherapy' plus health education to that of mass chemotherapy singly. Emphasis was placed on treatment coverage with praziquantel among individuals infected with Schistosoma japonicum and costs incurred for treating an infected person. The results show that the former strategy was almost as good as the latter producing treatment coverage rates among egg-positives of 96.2-97.1% during 2 years, while corresponding rates of 100% were achieved in the village where mass chemotherapy was employed. Importantly, the cost of the former strategy was only about half that of mass chemotherapy, i.e. 49.0% in the first year and 54.6% in the following. Moreover, 'passive chemotherapy' together with health education can conveniently be integrated into the primary health care system making it an attractive strategy for schistosomiasis control during the maintenance and consolidation phase.
Guo
Jia-Gang
JG
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai 200025, China. guojg@sh163.net
Cao
Chun-Li
CL
Hu
Guang-Han
GH
Lin
Han
H
Li
Dong
D
Zhu
Rong
R
Xu
Jing
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011223:Praziquantel / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012554:Schistosomiasis japonica / Q000469:parasitology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012556:Schistosomicides / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D012556:Schistosomicides; D011223:Praziquantel