Page 23 - Dainfern Precinct Living Issue 3_2024

Today's Child
HEALTH & FITNESS
T het’s a very romantic and in the eastern and north-eastern parts fatigue, fever, chills, coughing, muscle

of the country, including the North West,
aches, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and
exciting idea to head off
Limpopo, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal
dysentery. If the infection becomes
to explore our African
chronic, it can affect the liver, spleen,
countryside, but be aware
and the Eastern Cape.
of the risks that you may
encounter – one of them is bilharzia. WHAT IS ITS LIFE CYCLE? lungs, spinal cord, and/or brain
and if the urinary system is infected,
One of the requirements for the it can increase the risk of developing
continuation of the parasite’s life cycle bladder cancer among adults. Female
A bilharzia infection can sometimes is the presence of a particular type of genital schistosomiasis can occur
go undetected for some time but its host snail that lives in fresh water. When in women and is predominantly
effects can impact enormously on your the eggs leave the human body in urine caused by infection with Schistosoma
health. According to the World Health (in urinary schistosomiasis) or faeces (in haematobium which form granulomas in
Organisation, among human parasitic intestinal schistosomiasis), they hatch in the uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries,
diseases, bilharzia (schistosomiasis)
B Y DR NIR V ANA MOETHILALH the water and the larvae (miracidia) then leading to the development of uterine
ranks second after malaria as a health penetrate the snail hosts. After enlargement, menstrual disorders,
hazard in tropical and subtropical several weeks of growth and inflammation of the cervix and infertility.
areas. multiplication, cercariae emerge from the In children, schistosomiasis may cause
snails and infect humans by penetrating anaemia, stunted growth and a reduced
HOW IS THE DISEASE SPREAD? their skin while there is water contact, ability to learn.
You can catch bilharzia while wading such as wading, swimming, or washing in
or swimming in ‘fresh’ water streams, the water. Once in the body, the cercariae HOW IS IT TREATED?
rivers or inland lakes and dams in areas transform and migrate through the lungs Schistosomiasis can usually be treated
where the local population use these to the liver where they mature into adult successfully with a short course of
water sources for their ablutions and for worms. These worms then move to the Praziquantel. This medication acts within
washing their clothes. veins in the abdominal cavity or to the one hour of being taken and causes the
urinary tract, where eggs are produced. worms to detach from the walls of the
WHERE IS IT FOUND? While most of the eggs remain in the organs and die.
The bilharzia parasite is prevalent in tissues, some of them are passed
sub- Saharan Africa, the Middle East, through the bowel or urinary tract to Praziquantel can be used to treat
Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. continue the life cycle of infecting other children from 4 years and older, as well
The common schistosomes that infect as adults, including pregnant women.
humans include: hosts. If a woman is breastfeeding, however,
• S. mansoni - Africa, Latin America; it’s recommended that she refrain from
• S. haematobium - Middle East, Africa; WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? doing so while taking the medication,
• S. japonicum - East Asia, Pacific; The most common symptom that will and for 72 hours thereafter.
• S. intercalatum - sub-Saharan Africa; alert you to the possibility of bilharzia
• S. mekongi - Cambodia, Laos. infection, referred to in medical terms Schistosomiasis affects almost 240
S. mansoni, S. japonicum, S. as schistosomiasis, is blood in the urine million people worldwide and is
intercalatum, and S. mekongi cause or stools/faeces. A rash may develop at categorised as a neglected tropical
intestinal disease. S. haematobium the point where the cercariae penetrated disease. One of the aims of the World
causes urinary disease. the skin. This may appear within hours Health Organization is to end the
of being infected, and could last up epidemic of neglected tropical diseases
In South Africa, the parasite is endemic to a week. Other symptoms include by 2030.

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