Schistosomiasis historical perspective
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Schistosomiasis is known as bilharzia or bilharziosis in many countries, after German physician Theodor Bilharz, who first described the cause of urinary schistosomiasis in 1851. The first doctor who described the entire disease cycle was Pirajá da Silva in 1908. It was a common cause of death for Ancient Egyptians in the Greco-Roman Period.
Historical Perspective
Egypt Treatment Campaign and Hepatitis C
Schistosomiasis is endemic in Egypt, exacerbated by the country's dam and irrigation projects along the Nile. From the late 1950s through the early 1980s, infected villagers were treated with repeated shots of tartar emetic. Epidemiological evidence suggests that this campaign unintentionally contributed to the spread of the hepatitis C virus via unclean needles. Egypt has the world's highest hepatitis C infection rate, and the infection rates in various regions of the country closely track the timing and intensity of the anti-schistosomiasis campaign.[1][2]
References
- ↑ Strickland GT (2006). "Liver disease in Egypt: hepatitis C superseded schistosomiasis as a result of iatrogenic and biological factors". Hepatology. 43 (5): 915–22. doi:10.1002/hep.21173. PMID 16628669.
- ↑ "Proceedings of the 13h Annual History of Medicine Days", a medical historical paper from University of Calgary. March 2004.