The impact of flood disasters on the prevalence of schistosomiasis and its control measures
After more than 70 years of unremitting efforts,China has achieved significant results in the prevention and con-trol of schistosomiasis and the prevalence of schistosomiasis has dropped to the lowest level in history.By the end of 2023,the national goal of blocking the transmission of schistosomiasis has been achieved,but the factors affecting schistosomiasis transmission have not fundamentally changed,and there are still many difficulties and challenges to fully achieve the goal of eliminating schistosomiasis.Flood disasters may pose a great impact on the prevalence of schistosomiasis and even affect the progress of eliminating schistosomiasis.This paper elaborates the impact of flood disasters on the spread of oncomelanias,fe-cal contamination,human exposure to contaminated water,distribution of schistosomiasis cercariae and human schistosomia-sis infection.The corresponding prevention and control measures are proposed,according to the characteristics of flood disas-ters in different stages(pre flood,flood period,post flood),such as disaster situation,human behavior,schistosomiasis infec-tion,and so on.
SchistosomiasisFlood disastersOncomelaniaTransmission riskPrevention and control measures