Prevalence of cercarial dermatitis among paddy-field workers in central areas of mazandaran province

ABSTRACT

Cercarial dermatitis [CD] or swimmer's itch | is a hypersensitive reaction to the skin penetration of avian and herbivorous schistosomes, esp. genus Trichobilharzia. Owing to presence of both intermediate and final host of this parasite in North of Iran, we aimed at determining the prevalence of CD among paddy-field workers in central areas of Mazandaran Province. To perform this descriptive-cross sectional study, we refer to bird refuges of migrating water and Paddy-field around man-made ponds of Babol, Sari, Ghaemshahr and Savadkoh districts. The Hand and foot of the farmers were examined clinically for detection of infected people and their signs and symptoms were recorded on a sheet of paper. Based on the results, 77.5% of the workers suffer from CD. All of them are males and the majority of them are indigenous. High prevalence of Cercarial dermatitis among paddy-field workers led to a health dilemma. Thus, by increasing awareness of farmers, implementing suitable approaches, controlling the disease and sanitizing the contaminated areas can promote health situation