Prevalence and intensity of the schistosomiasis situation along the Zimbabwean urban and peri-urban shoreline of Lake Kariba

Abstract

The potential health impacts of Lake Kariba were recognised before the construction of Kariba Dam.1 A medical team that assessed health impacts associated with the construction of the dam did not consider schistosomiasis as a major problem around the dam site because the incidence of the disease in the population living along the Zambezi River was low. Furthermore, it was believed that transmission would not take place at the proposed dam site because it was rocky and therefore unsuitable for snail colonisation. It was. however, realized that most dam construction employees were drawn from distant areas in Malawi. Zambia and the then Rhodesia where schistosomiasis was endemic. Thus, all immigrants were screened for S. haematobium and those found infected were treated.' The medical report, however, did not mention S. mansoni nor the intermediate host snail tBiomphalaria pjcijferii involved in its transmission