The Ministry of Health and Social Services has announced an increase in cases of schistosomiasis in the Kavango West Region.

The ministry’s Executive Director, Ben Nangombe said in a media statement on Wednesday that 608 suspected cases were reported of which 173 were confirmed both clinically and 139 via laboratory tests, while 34 cases are being investigated.

“School-going children are the most affected. The ministry continues to conduct surveillance activities. All the cases were managed as outpatients and none was hospitalised due to schistosomiasis,” he said.

Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia) is an infectious acute and chronic disease caused by parasitic flatworms, which are transmitted when individuals come into contact with water contaminated with snails that carry the worms.

According to Nangombe, 600 million people all over the world are at risk. Two-hundred million people are infected, and 20 million of the 200 million infected people experience severe illness.

The executive director said schistosomiasis is one of the leading causes of severe morbidity in large parts of Africa, Asia and South America.

The type of schistosomiasis isolated in Namibia is urinary and intestinal schistosomiasis, which Nangombe noted is prominent in the Zambezi, Kavango East and West as well as the Omusati regions.

“Schistosomiasis is highly focalised in villages that are near water bodies such as perennial rivers. Therefore, it is not uncommon for people to fall ill with schistosomiasis in Namibia, especially from the above-mentioned regions,” he said.

He further explained that disease transmission occurs when an infected individual urinates or defecates in water, shedding eggs that proliferate in an intermediated host (snails).

The ministry emphasises that an increase in schistosomiasis cases is expected from the Kavango West Region as it is an endemic area, saying the best preventative strategy at the moment is to avoid contact with the river water.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency