Schistosomiasis

Abstract

In the wake of the invitation by InTech, this book was written by a number of prominent researchers in the field. It is set to present a compendium of all necessary and up-to-date data to all who are interested. Schistosomiasis or blood fluke disease, also known as Bilharziasis, is a parasitic disease caused by helminths from a genus of trematodes entitled Schistosoma. It is a snail-borne trematode infection. The disease is among the Neglected Tropical Diseases, catalogued by the Global Plan to combat Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2008-2015 and is considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be the second most socioeconomically devastating parasitic disease, next to malaria. WHO demonstrates that schistosomiasis affects at least 200 million people worldwide, more than 700 million people live in endemic areas, and more than 200.000 deaths are reported annually. It leads to the loss of about 4.5 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs).