A total of 785 individuals from an endemic area of schistosomiasis japonica had parasito-logical and physical examination done. A morbidity questionnaire about symptoms of schisto-somiasis within the past 2wk was also administered to each participant. Among those infected people,there was a significant increase in diarrhea,bloody stool and weakness during the pre-vious two weeks. Hepatomegaly and splenomegaly were related to the history of schistosomi-asis japonica.

Objective To explore the application of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) in the study of genetic diversity of Oncomelania hupensis. Methods A snail was taken at random from Dali region, Yunnan Province and Yueyang City, Hunan Province respectively, and DNA was drawn with guanidinium thiocyanate and resin et al. Genomic DNA was amplified selectively by the AFLP technique with 64 pairs of primers, and the polymorphism of PCR products was examined by SDS-PAGE. Results The number of AFLP markers was between 5 and 55 for a pair of primers. The average number of a pair of primers was 38.30 (95% CI 36.03-40.57) for the snail from Yunnan Province, and 39.14 (95% CI 36.71-41.57) for the one from Hunan Province. For a pair of primers, the number of amplified polymorphic markers was between 3 and 37, and the polymorphic rate was between 28.6% and 76.2%, the average, 23.67 (95% CI 22.12-25.22) and 47.36%(95 %CI 45.22%-49.50%), respectively. The average similarity between the two populations was 0.69 (95% CI 0.67-0.70). Conclusion The AFLP technique is a new path for classifying Oncomelania hupensis and studying the genetic diversity of it.[

Objective To study current situation and existed problems in the public health emergency alert and response system so as to formulate more advices to consummate it and help to establish a more reasonable system adapting to our country. Methods A qualitative study was carried out among CDC working staff including two focus group discussions(FGD). Results Although government had put more emphasis on public health,increasing its devotion and strengthening the alert and response capability after SARS outbreak, some problems still existed, such as ① absence of correlative laws and rules; ② lack of government devotion; ③ insufficient utilization of surveillance information; ④ lack of the canonical response guidance. Conclusions With regard to the building up of the public health emergency alert and response system, the following proposals are put forward: increasing payout on public health; consummating the construction of disease surveillance network; affording more education and training to correlative staff engaged in the disease control to improve their abilities.

Objective: To evaluate the project performance of public health service system in rural areas during the implementation of China Rural Health Project ( hereinafter referred to asHealth XI Project) . Methods: In this paper, all 40 counties covered by the Health XI Project are selected as case study. This paper uses the performance evaluation index system for rural public health system developed for the project and continuously collect input and out-put indexes between 2008 and 2013 in order to conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluation. Results: During the implementation of the Health XI Project, the inputs and outputs of the rural public health service system had gradual-ly increased in all the countries covered by the project. The score for inputs and outputs increased from 22. 73 and 39. 05 in 2008 to 32. 62 and 57. 60 in 2013, with a growth rate of 43. 15% and 47. 50%, respectively. The input scores significantly grew faster than output scores in some provinces. The input-output ratio increased from 1. 72 to 1. 77, with slight fluctuations between different years. Conclusion: The application of the performance evaluation index system for public health service system in monitoring project implementation process can help to timely discover the weak links associated with the implementation of rural public health service system, and thus take effective measures to promote the improvement of the system. . When increasing investment in public health, how to efficiently use re-sources and improve the service effectiveness is still an urgent problem.

Objective To explore the consistency among different indices of abdominal ultrasonography for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica-related morbidity and the best combination of the indices. Methods Six indices of abdominal ultrasonography were selected to investigate schistosomiasis-related morbidity in residents in a village of Hunan Province, and the Kappa coefficients of diagnostic consistency among different indices and Cronbach's alpha coefficients of different combinations of indices were computed. Results The Kappa coefficients of 'liver parenchyma≥gradeⅡ' with 'right midclavicular subcostal' and with 'portal vein diameter' were 0^4131 and 0^4655 respectively, higher than normal level. The degree of their consistency was fair, and others showed poor or almost no consistency. Among the combinations made up of different indices, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the combination made up of 'liver parenchyma≥gradeⅡ', 'right midclavicular subcostal' and 'portal vein diameter' was 0^6566 which was the highest, showing the strongest internal consistency. Conclusion The six indices can not be replaced with each other in assessing schistosomiasis-related morbidity. Before abdominal ultrasonography is used extensively to assess the morbidity, it is necessary to study the diagnostic consistency of these indices and the best combination of the indices.

Objective To explore the geographic pattern of morphologic variation within snail populations across the mainland of China. Methods Twenty-one snail populations from the different regions were collected, and Shannon-Winer index and Euclidean distances within populations were used to analyze the spatial distribution of morphologic variation of Oncomelania hupensis. Results Longitude correlated significantly with Shannon-Winer index and Euclidean distances within populations, and the correlation coefficients were 0.719(P

Objective To explore morphologic variations and their spatial correlation among Oncomelania hupensis populations from the mainland of China. Methods Twenty-seven snail populations from ten provinces were collected. The morphologic indices of shells and geographic distances between the snail spots were measured respectively, and the morphologic variations among snail populations and the correlations between morphologic variations and geographical distances were analyzed. Results The median of Euclidean distances was 3.24 (95% CI: 2.88-3.81) among 20 snail populations of O.h.hupensis including a snail population from Guangxi Province, and was 3.15 (95% CI: 2.86-3.76) excluding the Guangxi snail population; the median was 1.69 (95% CI: 1.33-2.27) among 6 populations of O.h.robertsoni. Whether including a snail population from Guangxi Province or not, the median among O.h.robertsoni was less than that among O.h.hupensis (P0.05). The correlation coefficient was 0.2655 for O.h.hupensis including a snail population from Guangxi Province, 0.2567 not including it; and was 0.3121 for ribbed-shell population. Conclusions Morphologic variation among O.h.hupensis is bigger than that among O.h.robertsoni, and morphologic variation among ribbed-shell populations is bigger than that among smooth-shell populations. There is significant spatial structure among ribbed-shell snail populations of Oncomelania hupensis distributed in the mainland of China.

After analyzing the correlation coefficient (r) of mid-clavicular liver size (MCL) and mid-sternal liver size (MSL), and the rate of correspond once between palpation and B Ultrasound of spleen, it was found that the "r" of MCL and MSL is 0. 6476 and 0. 5623 respectively, the correspond once rate of spleen is 76. 23%, This result shows that the examiner must master the palpation technique well and B Ultrasound should be used in the screening of schistosomiasis japonica if possible.

Objective To explore the relati onship between the reliability of information of genetic diversity and sample si ze in morphologic quantitative characteristics of Oncomelania h upensis. Methods Sixty snails ( smooth shell) from Dali City, Yunnan Province and sixty snails (ribbed shell) f rom Yueyang City, Hunan Province were sampled at random, and the morphologic qua ntitative characteristics of the snails were measured, and then the coefficient of variation, proportion of variation between the two groups and Shannon's infor mation index were computed respectively. Results Among 11 indices of morphologic quantitative characteristics, the coefficient of variation of thickness of labra brim was th e largest, and those of ribbed-shell and smooth-shell population were 20.57% and 14.14% respectively, and the next was length of hypo-body whorl, and those of ri bbed-shell and smooth-shell snails were 12.98% and 11.49% respectively. Amon g 11 morphologic quantitative characteristics indices, there were nearly three out of four indices which the coefficients of variation of ribbed-shell snails were m o re than those of smooth-shell population, and the average coefficient of variat i on of ribbed-shell population was also more than those of smooth-shell populat io n. The average Shannon's information indices of ribbed-shell and smooth-shell po pulation were 1.541 and 1.220 respectively, and the former was the bigger. Whe n the sample size was less than 30, the result of genetic diversity gained from th e study was not very reliable, and with the increase of sample size the reliabil ity of the information of genetic diversity was also augmented. When the sample size was more than 55, the result of genetic diversity was reliable. Conclusion In order to get reliable information of genetic variation in the study of morphologic quantitative charac-teristics of Oncomelania hupensis, at least 55 individual s should be investigated for each population.

In order to acquire the information on the changes and improvement after the implementation of National Schistosomiasis Control and Prevention Regulation, a survey was performed. The awareness of schistosomiasis and the regulation, stool management and other related contents were carried out in the rural areas of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and Yunan provinces. The results showed 98.9% of the residents knew about schistosomiasis, 89. 8% knew the regulation, 95. 1% supported the management of drinking water and lavatory, 45.3% used tap water as their ordinary drinking water supply, but there were 47.6% still drank well water, 51.1% used water closet and 40.0% used simple toilet. The work on improving water and sanitary conditions in mountain areas was left behind that in lake areas. It is indicated that there is still a lot we must do to promote the propaganda of the regulation.