Abstract
Schistosomiasis is one of the most important zoonoses, threatening approximately 800 million people in 78 countries with a loss of 70 million disability-adjusted life years. Over the past six decades, China has made remarkable achievements in morbidity control, but disability and mortality control remains much to desire; thus, advanced schistosomiasis is a growing problem when on the road to schistosomiasis elimination. Since 2005, China has initiated a national treatment and assistance program to advanced patients, aiming to improve patients’ symptoms and quality of life. Here, we conducted a two-phase study to evaluate the program’s implementation and effect on advanced patients from 2009 to 2014 in Jiangxi Province, China. A total of 6425 advanced schistosomiasis cases were included in this study. For those having been treated and assisted (90.7 %), the cure or improvement rate was over 99.9 %, with 668 (11.5 %) cases having reached clinical cure and 5152 (88.4 %) cases’ condition having improved, which can be partially reflected in the significant decline of the proportion of hepatomegaly (splenomegaly), the degree of liver fibrosis, ascites-related indicators (abdominal girth and frequency of shifting dullness), and portal hypertension-related indices (inner diameter of portal vein and frequency of subcutaneous varicose vein of abdominal wall). Besides, it was estimated to have saved 2004 years of life lost at total. Therefore, the government should continue support and increase input of treatment and assistance program so that this project can reach more patients, leading to consolidation of achievements of schistosomiasis control and contribution to schistosomiasis elimination.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Colley DG, Bustinduy AL, Secor WE, King CH (2014) Human schistosomiasis. Lancet 383(9936):2253–2264
Gray DJ, McManus DP, Li Y, Williams GM, Bergquist R, Ross AG (2010) Schistosomiasis elimination: lessons from the past guide the future. Lancet Infect Dis 10(10):733–736
Gryseels B, Polman K, Clerinx J, Kestens L (2006) Human schistosomiasis. Lancet 368:1106–1118
Huang H, Xie W, Zhang S, Liu B, Li Y et al (2007) Relationship between family functionalities and health state of advanced schistosomiasis patients. Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za Zhi 19:232–233 (in Chinese)
Jia TW, Utzinger J, Deng Y, Yang K, Li YY, Zhu JH et al (2011) Quantifying quality of life and disability of patients with advanced schistosomiasis japonica. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 5(2):e966
Li SM, Zhao ZY, Peng ZZ, Wang ZH, Li Y, Guo FY, Ren GH (2014) Evaluation on effect of treatment and assistance to advanced schistosomiasis patients in Hunan Province from 2004 to 2013. Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za Zhi 26(4):362–366 (in Chinese)
Li YS (2006) Diagnosis and treatment of schistosomiasis. People’s Health Publishing House, Beijing
Ministry of Health, the People’s Republic of China (2006) Chinese diagnostic criteria for schistosomiasis (WS 261-2006). http://www.nhfpc.gov.cn/ewebeditor/uploadfile/2014/12/20141208170326851.pdf. Accessed 7 April 2006
National Health and Family Planning Commission, the People’s Republic of China (2005) Guideline for providing medical assistance to advanced schistosomiasis patients. http://www.nhfpc.gov.cn/zhuzhan/zcjd/201304/9f4a98c0137b42b9951a685eef87458e.shtml. Accessed 16 February 2005
Pan HR, He MX (2015) Factors influencing the compliance of blood sampling in senile patients in rural area and nursing strategy. Chin J Pract Nurs 31(suppl):88 (in Chinese)
Richter J, Azoulay D, Dong Y, Holtfreter MC, Akpata R, Calderaro J, El-Scheich T, Breuer M, Neumayr A, Hatz C, Kircheis G, Botelho MC, Dietrich CF. (2016) Ultrasonography of gallbladder abnormalities due to schistosomiasis. Parasitol Res. doi: 10.1007/s00436-016-5116-0
Wang C, Chen L, Yin X, Hua W, Hou M, Ji M et al (2011) Application of DNA-based diagnostics in detection of schistosomal DNA in early infection and after drug treatment. Parasites Vectors 4:164
Wilson MS, Mentink-Kane MM, Pesce JT, Ramalingam TR, Thompson R, Wynn TA (2007) Immunopathology of schistosomiasis. Immunol Cell Biol 85(2):148–154
World Health Oraganization (WHO) (2016) Schistosomiasis. http://www.who.int/entity/mediacentre/factsheets/fs115/en/. Accessed February 2016
Wu XH, Wang TP, Lu DB, Hu HT, Gao ZB, Zhu CG et al (2002) Studies of impact on physical fitness and working capacity of patients with advanced schistosomiasis japonica in Susong County, Anhui Province. Acta Trop 82(2):247–252
Xu J, Rong R, Zhang HQ, Shi CJ, Zhu XQ, Xia CM (2010) Sensitive and rapid detection of Schistosoma japonicum DNA by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP). Int J Parasitol 40(3):327–331
Xu J, Yu Q, Tchuente LA, Bergquist R, Sacko M, Utzinger J et al (2016) Enhancing collaboration between China and African countries for schistosomiasis control. Lancet Infect Dis 16(3):376–383
Zhang LJ, Li SZ, Wen LY, Lin DD, Abe EM, Zhu R, Du Y, Lv S, Xu J, Webster BL, Rollinson D, Zhou XN (2016) The establishment and function of schistosomiasis surveillance system towards elimination in the People’s Republic of China. Adv Parasitol 92:117–41. doi:10.1016/bs.apar.2016.03.003
Zhou S, Jin X, Chen X, Zhu J, Xu Z, Wang X et al (2015) Heat Shock Protein 60 in eggs specifically induces Tregs and reduces liver immunopathology in mice with schistosomiasis japonica. PLoS One 10(9):e0139133
Zhou XN, Wang LY, Chen MG, Wu XH, Jiang QW, Chen XY et al (2005) The public health significance and control of schistosomiasis in China—then and now. Acta Trop 96(2-3):97–105
Zhu H, Yu C, Xia X, Dong G, Tang J, Fang L et al (2010) Assessing the diagnostic accuracy of immunodiagnostic techniques in the diagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica: a meta-analysis. Parasitol Res 107(5):1067–1073
Zhu X, Wang W, Liu X, Wu C (2015) Evaluation on effect of treatment and assistance to advanced schistosomiasis patients in Qianjiang City. Zhongguo Xue Xi Chong Bing Fang Zhi Za Zhi 27(2):203–205 (in Chinese)
Acknowledgments
This work was funded by the grants from the Jiangxi Provincial Science and Technology Support Project (No. 2011WBBG70001) and Jiangxi Provincial Health Science and Technology Project (No. 20132008).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Ethical statement
Ethical approval for the study was obtained from both county (anti-schistosomal stations) and provincial (schistosomiasis headquarters) authorities and was endorsed by the Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Parasitic Diseases, China. All subjects received an explanation about the scope of the study, such as objectives, procedures, and potential risks before inclusion in the study, and written informed consent was obtained from all adult participants and from the parents or legal guardians of minor.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Langui Song and Xiaoying Wu contributed equally to this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Song, L., Wu, X., Ren, J. et al. Assessment of the effect of treatment and assistance program on advanced patients with schistosomiasis japonica in China from 2009 to 2014. Parasitol Res 115, 4267–4273 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5207-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-016-5207-y