Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T05:26:19.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Studies on Biological Control of Intermediate Hosts of Schistosomiasis in Western Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

J. P. McMahon
Affiliation:
I East Avenue, Talbot Woods, Bournemouth, England; formerly of the Division of Insect-borne Diseases, Kisumu, Kenya
R. B. Highton
Affiliation:
P.O. Box 258, Malindi, Kenya; Medical Research Council Project, Kisumu, Kenya
T. F. de C. Marshall
Affiliation:
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1, England.

Extract

The experiment described was conducted in water impounded by earth dams, for local water-supply, in Nyanza province, Kenya. Control of snails was attempted by introduction of the malacophagous fish Astatoreochromis alluaudi; other species were also introduced. The schedules of introduction of fish were varied between the reservoirs, and one was left as a control without any introduction of fish. The necessity for the establishment of a fish-rearing pond, prior to large-scale stocking, is emphasized.

Assessment of snail control was made by scooping for snails, catches being expressed per man-hour. This was carried out both before and after introduction of fish, over a total period of 15 years. It is concluded that the data indicate that A. alluaudi did reduce the numbers of some species of snails—particularly Biomphalaria pfeifferi and, to a lesser extent and with less certainty, Bulinus spp.

Two other introduced fish species, Tilapia zillii and T. leucosticta, did not appear to be associated with any fall in snail numbers.

Type
Main Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1977

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bard, J. & Mvoga, L. (1963). Note d'information Sur Astato-reochromis alluaudi, poisson molluscophage utilisable dansla prophylaxie de la bilharziose. Bull. Soc. Path. Exot., 56, PP. 119–26.Google Scholar
Berrie, A. D. (1966). Fish Ponds In Relation To Transmission Of Bilharziasis In East Africa. E. Afr. Agric. Forestry J., 31(3), p. 276–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bont, A. F. de & Hers, M. J. de Bont (1952). Mollusc Control And Fish Farming In Central Africa. Nature (London), 170, PP. 323–4.Google Scholar
Fish, G. R. (1955). Food of Tilapia in East Africa. Symposium on African Hydrobiology and Inland Fisheries, Entebbe, Uganda, 1952, pp. 72–6.Google Scholar
Greenwood, P. H. (1956). The Monotypic Genera Of Cichlid Fishes In Lake Victoria. Bull. Brit. Mus. (N.H.) Zool., 3(7), pp. 295333.Google Scholar
Greenwood, P. H. (1957). a revision of the Lake Victoria Hapluchromis Species (Pisces, Cichlidae), Part II. Bull. Brit. Mus. (N.H.) Zool., 5(4), pp. 7697.Google Scholar
Greenwood, P. H. (1959). The monotypic genera of cichlid fishes in Lake Victoria, Part II, and a revision of the Lake Victoria Haplochromis Species (Pisces, Cichlidae), Part III. Bull. Brit. Mus. (N.H) Zool, 5(7), pp. 163–77.Google Scholar
Greenwood, P. H. (1960). A revision of the Lake Victoria Haplochromis species (Pisces, Cichlidae), Part IV. Bull. Brit. Mus. (N.H.) Zool., 6(4), pp. 227–81.Google Scholar
Lagrange, E. (1953). La Lutte Biologique Contre Les Planorbes. Ann. Soc. Beige Med. Trop., 33, pp. 227–36.Google Scholar
McMahon, J. P. (1960). Preliminary observations on the control by fish of snails and mosquitoes in dams. Annual Report For 1959 Of E. A. Fish Res. Org., Jinja, Uganda, pp. 41–6.Google Scholar
Malek, E. A. (1958). Factors Conditioning The Habitat Of Bilharziasis Intermsdiate Hosts Of The Family Planorbidae. Bull. Wldhlth Org., 18(5 & 6), pp. 785818.Google ScholarPubMed
Michelson, E. H. (1957). Studies on the biological control of schistosome-bearing snails. Predators and parasites of freshwater Mollusca. A, Review of the Literature. Parasitology, 47(3/4), pp. 413–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mvoga, L. & Bard, J. (1964). Seconde note d'information sur Astatoreochromis alluaudi, poisson molluscophage utili sable dans la prophylaxie de la bilharziose. Bull. Soc. Path. Exot., 57, pp. 21–3.Google Scholar
Paperna, I. (1969). Aquatic weeds, snails and transmission of bilharzia in the new man-made Volta Lake in Ghana. Bull. Inst. Fond. Afr. Noire, Ser. A, 31(2), pp. 487–99.Google Scholar
Siegel, S. (1965). Non-Parametric Statistics For The Behavioral Sciences. McGraw Hill, New York, And Kogakusha Company, Tokyo: Xvii + 312 pp.Google Scholar
Teesdale, C. (1963). Ecological observations on the molluscs of significance in the transmission of bilharziasis in Kenya. Bull. Wld Hlth Org., 27, pp. 759–82.Google Scholar
Webbe, G. (1961). Laboratory and field trials of a new mollusci-cide, Bayer 73, in Tanganyika. Bull. Wld Hlth Org., 25, pp. 525–31.Google ScholarPubMed