Schistomosiasis Returns To China - NYT

[hatrack]

XINMIN VILLAGE, China - 'Had she been younger, Liao Cuiying might have been mistaken for pregnant, standing beside a watery ditch with a hard, distended belly that spoke not of imminent life but approaching death. Her village is surrounded by Dongting Lake, an immense inkblot of brown water that sustains villages of fishermen and farmers. Mrs. Liao, 55, had regularly washed her vegetables in a nearby stream and cut wood in the damp soil beside the lake.

They were mundane, daily tasks that would cost Mrs. Liao her life, because Dongting Lake carries a complicated burden for those who depend on it: people cannot touch the water. It is infested with a water borne parasite called schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever, which can penetrate a person's skin after only 10 seconds of contact and cause serious illness, even death.

The parasites travel through the bloodstream before eventually attacking the liver, pancreas and stomach. People are often slow to realize they are infected, and chronic patients can suffer lethargy, high fevers, swollen stomachs and, in some cases, death. "It's a downward spiral that can be slow and quite painful," said Dr. Jeffrey Gilbert, an infectious diseases specialist with the World Health Organization in Beijing, who in late February will lead a fact-finding mission to assess the problem. "It's a really unpleasant disease."

EDIT

What is most frustrating to people like Mr. Guo, whose wife has the disease, is that snail fever was largely eradicated in China during the 1950's as part of a national campaign ordered by Mao Zedong. Mr. Guo, 56, recalled regular efforts to sweep the lake of the snails that serve as host bodies for the parasites. He said that people were required to have checkups and that those infected received free medical care, including drugs that can neutralize the disease. But the constant attention needed to control the disease has waned, and it gradually returned, partly because of neglect of the rural health system. In recent years, the government announced free programs to distribute drugs to regions with high infection rates like Lake Dongting. The Chinese media have publicized the problem and warned that infections could spread faster if left unchecked."

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/22/international/asia/22snail.html?pagewanted=all

[Strelnikov_]

1. "Gradually returned partly because of neglect of the rural health system'"

Ain't unrestrained Capitalism great!!