Dear readers,

Hi, I am Schistosomiasis (pronounced SHIS-toe-SO-my-uh-sis), or you can just call me “schisto” for short. You may not know me, but I know you very well, especially if you live along Yangtse River in China. You see, based on China Economic Net, I was able to infect around 810 thousand schistosomiasis people with most sufferers living along the Yangtse River, in the provinces of Hubei, Hunan and An'hui. I have quite a complex life cycle that would even baffle most scientists. Because of the complexity, I have several hard-to-pronounce scientific names such as miracidium and cercarium to describe each stages of life cycle.

In my life cycle, I first start at the liver of my vertebrate hosts- human or bovine. I then lay eggs that then get excreted to the outside via feces or urine. At this point, if the water was treated, I would be killed. But in rural areas such as Poyang Lake region where they do no have resources to treat the water before discharging to the water, I continue living. After the eggs hatch, I transform into a miracidium that then infect my fresh water snail host. After several weeks, my snail host will shed thousands of me, called cercarium. Then within 24 hours, I have to find a vertebrate host and the cycle continues. See, if this fascinating!

At this point, you may be disgusted by my presence and want to eradicate me, just like many public health officials all over the world, especially the developing countries. However, I want to tell you a different perspective about myself. Specifically, I would to tell you about my life in the Poyang Lake, in Jiangxi Province. Just like most other places, the Chinese government has been very active in eradicating me from this region. For example, in the 1970’s there have been extensive mollusciciding using plane to spread the chemical to eradicate my poor snail hosts. The chemical not only killed snail, me, but it also killed birds, damaged crops, and poisoned fish. Soon, the Chinese government stopped the wide-area effort and recognized that a different strategy would be needed. Now, the government is trying to control me by treating people and by educating people not to be in contact with water.

Because of the life style of many rural residents, they do not have a choice not touch the water. For example, a fish man’s life is to be in contact with the lake. Women use the lake water to wash cloth. The drug of choice to kill me is Praziquantel. The cost is free to local resident because it subsidized by the government. However, because Praziquantel, like many other drugs, damages the liver, many residents spend about RMB 150 on liver supplements when taking Praziquantel.

Poyang Lake is a magnificent lake that expands to close over 4000 square km during summer and shrink to less that 3,000 square km during winter time. Because of this unique variation, many wetlands are formed. Through these areas, many migratory birds flock from northern area to hibernate in this place. Thus, this is a special place: in summer, one can enjoy the water in the lake; in winter, one can enjoy bird-watching. Furthermore, the cultural life style of this place is unique. We have fishermen that spend all of their life on the boat that including wind turbines to capture the renewable energy source wind. We have the farmers practicing animal husbandry and herding the cows.

However, the scenic beautiful and cultural lifestyle of this area is threatened by economic development pressure. For example, given this unique environment, tourism and real state management should have already conducted projects in creating an area for wealthy people to enjoy this scenic beauty. The life of these local residents along their cultural diversity would have disappeared. However, because of my presence, the demand for real estate is not there, nor the well-coordinated tourism efforts. In other words, I would argue that I am preserving the cultural diversity of this region by acting as a protective shield for these residents from outside intruders.

Therefore, next time, if you are around the Poyang Lake, instead of being afraid of me, thank me - for preserving the cultural diversity of this area.

Sincerely yours,

Schisto in Poyang Lake

    作者：Howard Lin