Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:55:44.075Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Heterogeneities in water contact patterns and the epidemiology of schistosoma haematobium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

S. K. Chandiwana  and
M. E. J. Woolhouse
S. K. Chandiwana
Affiliation:
Blair Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 8105, Harare, Zimbabwe
M. E. J. Woolhouse
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Variations in the amount of water contact made by individuals and in the amount of water contact made at different sites may have significant impacts on patterns of human schistosome infection. Previous studies have reported variations in the rate of water contact and differences in the sites used between age/sex classes, but there is limited information on variations in individual water contact behaviour. In this paper we report and analyse observations of essentially all water contacts made over a two week period by all individuals in a rural community in eastern Zimbabwe. The mean rate of water contact was 0.43 contacts/person/day. These data were over-dispersed, ranging from zero to 3.3 contacts/person/day; 90% of contacts were made by only 37% of the population. Contact rates were related to age (highest in 8 to 10-year-olds) but not sex, with substantial variation unaccounted for by these variables. Age and sex classes differed in types of water-related activities and the time of day of contact. A greater diversity of sites was used by children than by adults and by males than by females. Individual contact rates were correlated with intensities of infection, although the risk of infection per contact was estimated to be highest in 2 to 4-year-old children and higher for males than females. Five contact sites were used during the study period, with more than 50% of contacts occurring at just 2 sites. Different age and sex classes used different sites and there were additional site-related differences in types of activity and the time of day of use. The implications of these water contact patterns for schistosome epidemiology are discussed. In particular the results provide strong quantitative support for control programmes aimed at heavily used sites (e.g. focal mollusciciding) or at the minority of individuals making most water contacts (e.g. targeted chemotherapy).

Keywords

epidemiologySchistosoma haematobiumspatial heterogeneitywater contact
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 103 , Issue 3 , December 1991 , pp. 363 - 370
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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

Barbour, A. D. (1978). Macdonald's model and the transmission of bilharzia. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 72, 6–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butterworth, A. E., Capron, M., Cordingley, J. S., Dalton, P. R., Dunne, D. W., Kariuki, H. C., Koech, D., Mugambi, M., Ouma, J. H., Prentice, M. A., Richardson, B. A., Arap Siongok, T. K., Sturrock, R. F. & Taylor, D. W. (1985). Immunity after treatment of schistosomiasis mansoni. II. Identification of resistant individuals, and analysis of their immune responses. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 79, 393–408.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chandiwana, S. K. (1986). How Schistosoma mansoni eggs reach natural waterbodies. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 80, 963–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chandiwana, S. K. (1987 a). Community water contact patterns and the transmission of Schistosoma haematobium in the highveld region of Zimbabwe. Social Science and Medicine 25, 495–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chandiwana, S. K. (1987 b). Seasonal patterns in water contact and the influence of water availability on contact activities in two schistosomiasis endemic areas in Zimbabwe. Central African Journal of Medicine 33, 8–15.Google ScholarPubMed
Chandiwana, S. K. (1988). Spatial heterogeneity in patterns of human schistosomiasis infection in the Zimbabwe highveld. Central African Journal of Medicine 34, 212–21.Google ScholarPubMed
Chandiwana, S. K. & Christensen, N. O. (1988). Analysis of the dynamics of transmission of human schistosomiasis in the highveld region of Zimbabwe. A review. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 39, 187–93.Google ScholarPubMed
Chandiwana, S. K., Taylor, P. & Clarke, V. De V. (1988). Prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis in two rural areas in Zimbabwe and their relationship to village location and snail infection rate. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 82, 163–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandiwana, S. K., Woolhouse, M. E. J. & Bradley, M. (1991). Factors affecting the intensity of reinfection with Schistosoma haematobium following treatment with Praziquantel. Parasitology 102, 73–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dalton, P. R. (1976). A socioeconomic approach to the control of Schistosoma mansoni in St. Lucia. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 54, 587–95.Google Scholar
Dalton, P. R. & Pole, D. (1978). Water contact patterns in relation to Schistosoma haematobium infection. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 56, 417–26.Google ScholarPubMed
De Lima, E, Costa, M. F. F., Rocha, R. S., Magalhaes, M. H., De, A. & Katz, N. (1985). A clinico-epidemiological survey of schistosomiasis mansoni in a hyperendemic area in Minas Gerais State (Comercinho, Brazil). I. Differences in the manifestations of schistosomiasis in the town centre and the environs. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 79, 539–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietz, K. (1979). Models for vector-borne parasitic diseases. In Lecture Notes in Biomathematics, 39 (ed. Barigozzi, C.), pp. 264–77. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Farooq, M. & Mallah, M. B. (1966). The behavioural pattern of social and religious water contact activities in the Egypt-49 bilharziasis project area. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 35, 377–87.Google ScholarPubMed
Fenwick, A., Cheesmond, A. K., Kardaman, M., Amin, M. A. & Manjing, B. K. (1982). Schistosomiasis among labouring communities in the Gezira irrigated area, Sudan. Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 85, 3–11.Google ScholarPubMed
Hagan, P., Blumenthal, U. J., Dunn, D., Simpson, A. J. G. & Wilkins, H. A. (1991). Human IgE, IgG4 and resistance to reinfection with Schistosoma haematobium. Nature, London 349, 243–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hustings, E. L. (1983). Human water-contact activities related to the transmission of bilharziasis (schistosomiasis). Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 86, 23–35.Google Scholar
Jordan, P. & Webbe, G. (1982). Schistosomiasis. London: Heinemann.Google ScholarPubMed
Kloos, H., Higashi, G. I., Cattani, J. A., Schlinski, V. D., Mansour, N. S. & Murrell, K. D. (1983). Water contact behaviour and schistosomiasis in an Upper Egyptian village. Social Science and Medicine 17, 545–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvalsvig, J. D. & Schutte, C. H. J. (1986). The role of human water contact patterns in the transmission of schistosomiasis in an informal settlement near a major industrial town. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 80, 13–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leiper, R. T. (1915). Report on the results of the bilharzia mission in Egypt, 1915. Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 25, 1–55.Google Scholar
Mott, K. E. (1983). A reusable polyamide filter for diagnosis of S. haematobium infection by urine filtration. Bulletin de la Société de Pathologie Exotique 76, 101–4.Google ScholarPubMed
Tayo, M. A., Pugh, R. N. H. & Bradley, A. K. (1980). Malumfashi endemic diseases research project, XI. Water-contact activities in the schistosomiasis study area. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 74, 347–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkins, H. A. (1987). Epidemiology of schistosome infections of man. In The Biology of Schistosomes – from Genes to Latrines (ed. Rollinson, D. & Simpson, A. J. G.), pp. 379–97. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Wilkins, H. A., Blumenthal, U. J., Hagan, P., Hayes, R. J. & Tulloch, S. (1987). Resistance to reinfection after treatment of urinary schistosomiasis. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 81, 29–35.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilkins, H. A., Goll, P. H., Marshall, T. F. De C. & Moore, P. J. (1984). Dynamics of Schistosoma haematobium infection in a Gambian community. III. Acquisition and loss of infection. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 78, 227–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woolhouse, M. E. J. & Chandiwana, S. K. (1989). Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the population dynamics of Bulinus globosus and Biomphalaria pfeifferi and in the epidemiology of their infection with schistosomes. Parasitology 98, 21–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woolhouse, M. E. J., Watts, C. H. & Chandiwana, S. K. (1991). Heterogeneities in transmission rates and the epidemiology of schistosome infection. Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B 245, 109–14.Google ScholarPubMed