"KILLER BULATE" Schistosomiasis In Children Can Cause Poor Growth And Learning Difficulty

"KILLER BULATE" Schistosomiasis In Children Can Cause Poor Growth And Learning Difficulty

Schistosomiasis is an acute and chronic parasitic disease caused by blood flukes (trematode worm).

Snail fever and Bilharzia is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes. The urinary tract or the intestines may be infected. Signs and symptoms may include abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloody stool, or blood in the urine. Those who have been infected for a long time may experience liver damage, kidney failure, infertility, or bladder cancer. In children, it may cause poor growth and learning difficulty.

Trematode Worm

Schistosome Eggs

Infection and transmission

People become infected when larval forms of the parasite, released by freshwater snails, penetrate the skin during contact with infested water.

Transmission occurs when people suffering from the illness goes freshwater sources with their excreta containing parasite eggs, which hatch in water.

The larvae develop into adult schistosomes in our body. Adult worms live in the blood vessels where the females release eggs. Some of the eggs are spread through feces and urine, while others are trapped in our body tissues.

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Twelve million Filipinos are believed to be at risk from a killer bulate that is endemic to a number of provinces in the Philippines.

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