Bilharzia wreaks havoc in Kilimanjaro Region.

The Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner, Leonidas Gama.

Some  57,014 low income earners living in Kilimanjaro Region have fallen victim to bilharzias in the span of only one year, 2014.

 

Commenting recently, the Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner, Leonidas Gama, expressed grave concern that the situation is worsening with time and more so in this rain season.

 

“The disease is even causing permanent disability to some people robbing them of their ability to contribute to economic activities,” he said. The RC made the comment when addressing a seminar on Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) that was attended by among others Chairmen and Council Directors from the region’s municipalities and health and education experts from all the six districts of Kilimanjaro Region.

 

According to the RC, Hai District alone has registered a total of 12,012 patients followed by Rombo with a total of 10,753 people infected while in Same District at least 1,445 patients are affected and in Moshi some 359 patients are also infected. 

 

The RC also raised alarm over prevalence of several other diseases that he said are also affecting economic development of the region, they  included  elephantiasis, blindness, trachoma, trypanosomiasis fever, rabies, plague, kidney and cancer.

 

The RC said some of the persons affected by the diseases are pupils and students which result in their poor performance in school. “These diseases are robbing the country of its workforce,” he lamented. 

 

Bilharzia is a human disease caused by parasitic flatworms called Schistosoma commonly known as blood-flukes. Over one billion humans are at risk worldwide and approximately 300 millions are infected every year.

 

Bilharzia is common in the tropics where ponds, streams and irrigation canals harbour bilharzia-transmitting snails. Parasite larvae develop into snails and it is these snail carriers that infect humans, their definitive host, in which they mature and reproduce.