Schistosomiasis control effect of measures of replacing cattle with machine for cultivation and forbidding depasturage of livestock on marshlands in marshland and lake regions

Objective: To evaluate the schistosomiasis control effect of the measures of replacing cattle with machine for cultivation and forbidding depasturage of livestock on marshlands in marshland and lake regions.

Methods: The retrospective review and field survey were implemented in the Jiangling and Gongan counties of Hubei Province where were implemented with the measure of replacing cattle with machine for cultivation, and Yuanjiang and Huarong counties of Hunan Province where were implemented with the measure of forbidding the depasturage of livestock on marshlands. The schistosome infection status of human, cattle, and Oncomelania hupensis snails, and schistosome-infested field excreta were surveyed from 2007 to 2013. The effects of the interventions were compared before and after their implementations.

Results: The 6 villages of Hubei Province were implemented with the measure of replacing cattle with machine for cultivation, and 7 villages of Hunan Province were implemented with the measure of forbidding the depasturage of livestock on marshlands. From 2007 to 2013, the schistosome infection rates of residents declined from 3.95% to 0.70% (χ2 = 128.376, P < 0.05), with the descend range of 82.53%. The descend ranges of the measures of replacing cattle with machine for cultivation and forbidding the depasturage of livestock on marshlands were 83.081% and 81.62% respectively, and there was no significant difference between the two measures (χ2 = 0.132, P > 0.05). The infection rate of cattle decreased from 3.66% in 2007 to 0.65% in 2013, and the descend range was 82.24% (χ2 = 13.692, P < 0.05). The field excreta was surveyed in the snail breeding place in 2013. The investigated area was 157.435 hm2, and 625 samples of field feces of cattle were collected with the density of field excreta of 3.97/hm2, and the positive rate was 1.12% (7/625). The schistosome infection rate of snails and the density of infected snails decreased successively from 2007, and no infected snails were detected from 2011 to 2013.

Conclusions: The schistosomiasis endemic situation are decreased significantly after the interventions of replacing cattle with machine for cultivation and forbidding the depasturage of livestock on marshlands. Therefore, schistosomiasis control effect of these measures is notable in the marshland and lake regions.