Comparison of the effectiveness before and after the adjustment of schistosomiasis control strategies in Nanjing City / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To compare the effectiveness before and after the adjustment of schistosomiasis control strategies in Nanjing City, so as to provide the evidence for improving schistosomiasis control interventions.@*Methods@#The prevalence of Schistosomasis japonicum infections in humans, livestock, Oncomelania hupensis and sentinel mice was collected in Nanjing City from 1993 to 2018, and the prevalence of S. japonicum infections in humans, livestock, sentinel mice and O. hupensis, and the areas of snail habitats, areas of infected snail habitats and snail control areas were compared before (1993-2004) and after (2005-2018) the adjustment of schistosomiasis control strategies to evaluate the effectiveness.@*Results@#The prevalence of S. japonicum infections in humans, livestock, O. hupensis and sentinel mice was 0.77% and 0.02% (χ2=6 430.634, P<0.001), 0.46% and 0.01% (χ2=344.401, P<0.001), 0.19% and 0.11% (χ2=239.685, P<0.001), and 34.35% and 1.56% (χ2=1 856.286, P<0.001) in Nanjing City before and after the adjustment of schistosomiasis control strategies, respectively. The median areas (interquartile range) of snail habitats, infected snail habitats and snail control were 4 175.37 (1 301.65) and 2 366.44 (885.27) hm2 (Z=-3.755, P<0.001), 870.49 (1 001.75) and 0 (158.89) hm2 (Z=-3.654, P<0.001) and 1 383.23 (793.57) and 5 031.94 (629.11) hm2 (Z=-4.320, P<0.001) in Nanjing City before and after the adjustment of schistosomiasis control strategies, respectively.@*Conclusions@#After the adjustment of schistosomiasis control strategies, remarkable effects on schistosomiasis control has achieved in Nanjing City, where the transmission of schistosomiasis was interrupted. Nevertheless, the strategy requires to be continued and improved to move towards elimination of schistosomiasis in Nanjing City.