[Investigation of intestinal nematode infections in Hongze County, Jiangsu Province].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the situation of intestinal nematode infections and assess the preventive effects, so as to provide the evidence for formulating the further measures of prevention. METHODS: Five villages from 5 townships of different geographical locations were selected and 500 residents of each village were surveyed. The eggs of intestinal nematodes were detected by the Kato-Katz technique, and 50 students and 50 residents per village were investigated by questionnaires about health education. RESULTS: Among 3 011 people detected, 17 persons were infected with intestinal nematodes and the total infection rate was 0.56%. The rates of Ascaris lumbricoides, hookworm, Trichuris trichiura, Enterobius vermicularis, and Trichostrongylus were 0.10%, 0.33%, 0.03%, 0.03% and 0.07%, respectively. The awareness rate of health knowledge was 97.80% and the formation rate of health behavior was 97.00%. CONCLUSION: The infection rates of intestinal nematodes, the awareness rate of health knowledge and the formation rate of health behavior in the population of Hongze County have achieved the criteria of effective control of intestinal parasitic diseases.

[Analysis of malaria situation and discussion of control strategies in Huai'an City, 2014].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the malaria epidemic situation in Huai'an City in 2014, so as to provide the evidence for formulating and adjusting effective strategies and measures to eliminate malaria. METHODS: The reported malaria cases from the Internet Reporting System and the epidemiological data of malaria of Huai'an City in 2014 were collected and analyzed statistically. RESULTS: A total of 56 malaria cases were reported in Huai'an City in 2014 with the incidence of 0.12/10,000, and 43.59% of increasing rate compared with the previous year (39 cases). All these cases were imported from African countries. There were 50 cases of falciparum malaria, 4 cases of ovale malaria, 1 case of quartan malaria and 1 case of mixed infections. All the patients were male and aged 24-59 years. Totally 96.43% of the patients (54 cases) were peasants and 69.64% of them (39 cases) only received junior high school education. The malaria cases were mainly distributed in Huai'an District (32 cases), Xuyi County (8 cases) and Huaiyin District (6 cases), totally accounting for 82.14%. There was no significant seasonal variation in the reporting time of the cases. The median time from onset to seeing a doctor was 2 days and the median time from seeing a doctor to being diagnosed was 1 day. Totally 16.67% of the patients (8 cases) were misdiagnosed when they first visited a doctor. All the patients were laboratory confirmed and all of them received the standard treatment after diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: There have been no local malaria cases reported from Huai'an City in the last three years. However, the situation of imported malaria is more serious and the species of infected Plasmodium are more diverse. Therefore, to accomplish the aim of malaria elimination in the whole city, it is necessary to further strengthen the multi-sectoral cooperation, health education, malaria screening and professional training to control the imported malaria.

[Cost-benefit analysis of netting cultivation to block the spread of Oncomelania snails in lake regions].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cost-benefit of netting cultivation to block the spread of Oncomelania snails in lake regions. METHODS: The cost-benefit of netting cultivation was investigated by interviewing in the field, the cost of Oncomelania snail survey and control was investigated by retrospective review in Gaoyou Lake regions of Jinhu County from 2009 to 2011. The benefit of netting cultivation to block the spread of snails in lake regions was calculated by the benefit-cost ratio (BCR), and then the cost-benefit of them was calculated. RESULTS: The area of netting cultivation in Gaoyou Lake regions was 70.77 hm2, the average cost of netting cultivation was 495,595 yuan every year, the average income was 962,000 yuan every year, and the average benefit of netting cultivation was 466 405 yuan. The average cost of Oncomelania snail survey and control from 2009 to 2011 was 85,047.87 yuan in Gaoyou Lake regions. The ratio of cost-benefit was 1.11:1. The benefit was more than the cost. CONCLUSION: There is a well benefit in lake regions during blocking the spread of snails by netting cultivation.