One hundred years of neglect in paediatric schistosomiasis

Bustinduy, Amaya L., Wright, Stephen, Joekes, Elizabeth C., Kabatereine, Narcis B., Reinhard-Rupp, Jutta, King, Charles H and Stothard, Russell ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9370-3420 (2017) 'One hundred years of neglect in paediatric schistosomiasis'. Parasitology, Vol 144, Issue 12, pp. 1613-1623.

Text Parasitology_One hundred years_1_3_17.docx - Submitted Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (62kB)

Abstract

Early in the history of schistosomiasis research, children under 5 years of age were known to be infected. Although this problem was recognized over 100 years ago, insufficient action has been taken to address this issue. Under current policy, such infected children only receive their first antiparasitic treatment (praziquantel – PZQ) upon entry into primary school as current mass drug administration programmes typically target school-aged children. For many infected children, they will wait up to 6 years before receiving their first medication and significant schistosomiasis-related morbidity may have already established. This inequity would not be accepted for other diseases. To unveil some of the reasons behind this neglect, it is paramount to understand the intricate historical relationship between schistosomiasis and British Imperial medicine, to underline its lasting influence on today's public health priorities. This review presents a perspective on the historical neglect of paediatric schistosomiasis, focusing on important gaps that persist from the early days after discovery of this parasite. Looking to end this inequity, we address several issues that need to be overcome to move forward towards the lasting success of schistosomiasis control and elimination efforts.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 320 Child Welfare. Child Health Services. WA Public Health > Health Problems of Special Population Groups > WA 395 Health in developing countries WC Communicable Diseases > Tropical and Parasitic Diseases > WC 810 Schistosomiasis WS Pediatrics > WS 100 General works WS Pediatrics > Diseases of Children and Adolescents > General Diseases > WS 200 General works WZ History of Medicine. Medical Miscellany > WZ 40 General works WZ History of Medicine. Medical Miscellany > History, By Period, Locality, etc. > WZ 64 20th century WZ History of Medicine. Medical Miscellany > History, By Period, Locality, etc. > WZ 80 History (Special groups)
Faculty: Department:	Biological Sciences > Department of Tropical Disease Biology
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0031182017000014
Depositing User:	Stacy Murtagh
Date Deposited:	11 Apr 2017 10:55
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2019 12:53
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/7003

Statistics

View details

Actions (login required)

Edit Item