Objective To study the impact of precipitation and water level on acute schistosomiasis for providing reference to control acute schistosomiasis in advance. Methods The historical data on precipitation and water level as well as acute schistosomiasis from 2003 to 2007 in Eastern, Southern and Western Dongting Lake regions were collected and analysed for the correlation between acute schistosomiasis and precipitation and water level in local areas. Results Acute schistosomiasis gradually decreased year by year from 2003 to 2007. Compared with 2003, the number of acute schistosomiasis in 2007 reduced by 95.37%. There was no outbreak of acute schistosomiasis from 2005 to 2007.In the period of peak acute schistosomiasis, the average monthly rainfall reduced from year to year for the successive 5 years. There was a significantly correlation between acute schistosomiasis and monthly average water level. Conclusions The acute schistosomiasis is directly affected by nature factors and has a close correlation with the rainfall and water level in Dongting Lake regions.

Objective To understand the morbidity of schistosomiasis japonica and health status of the liver and spleen of residents in a village and to evaluate the application of ultrasound on schistosomiasis epidemiology. Methods A total of 454 residents aged 5-65 years were examined by methods of Kato-Katz and ultrasound as well as disease history inquiry. Results The positive rate was 9.38% by stool examination, with no significant difference between males and females. The intensity of the infection among population was 5.70 eggs per gram of stool (EPG), with significant difference between males and females. The stool positive rate and EPG in farmers and students were the highest. Among 10.66% of the males and 8.10% of the females, as well as in 23.81% of the stool positive and 8.31% of the stool negative, the parenchyma of the liver was abnormal(≥GradeⅡ),with significant difference between males and females and between the stool positive and the stool negative. The abnormal rate of liver parenchyma went up with the age. Conclusion Ultrasound can evaluate the health status of inhabitants with schistosomiasis japonica and improve the compliance rate of residents to praziquantel chemotherapy.

0.05), and the all had significant differences in 2 to 4 months post-infection compared with the normal controls (P

Dongting Lake area is one of the major marshland schistosomiasis endemic areas in China. In recent years spatial epidemiology is widely used in the research of schistosomiasis which is a new opportunity to break through the current wander-ing situation of schistosomiasis control. In this article both the generalized and Dongting-Lake-specific epidemic indicators of schistosomiasis are reviewed to provide the basis to construct the schistosomiasis Geographic Information System GIS database of Hunan Province.