Kingsley Elele

Prevalence of Schitosomiasis in Abua / Odual, South-south, Nigeria Kingsley Elele

Schistosomiasis remains a major public health problem in many developing countries in tropical and subtropical regions, with the majority of the disease's impact in Africa. WHO (1999) estimates that globally, 600 million people are at risk of exposure to infection, more than 200 million people are infected with schistosomiasis and 120 million of these show clinical symptoms. It has adverse economic and health implications on residents living in endemic areas. Various factors including human behaviour are known to play key role in the transmission of the disease. WHO (1999) estimates that worldwide, 180 million people live in endemic areas and 90 million are infected with the parasites. Most of these live in sub-saharan Africa. Roughly 70 million persons suffer from schistosomal hematuria (blood in the urine), 18 million from associated bladder wall pathology, and 10 million from hydronephrosis (an accumulation of urine in the kidney due to obstruction of the ureter). It is estimated that 150,000 people die each year from resultant renal failure and an unknown but significant number from bladder and other genitourinary cancers.