PAINT flakes off the signs that dot the shore of Poyang lake, rendering the faded red characters unreadable. But local villagers know the message all too well: “Danger! Don’t touch the water.” For fishermen and farmers whose fortunes are bound to China's largest freshwater source, disobedience is the only option. The price is daily exposure to the water-borne, parasitic worm Schistosoma japonicum which is carried by the millions of tiny fingernail snails that infest the marshland. It tunnels through human skin, invades the bloodstream and lays eggs. Victims of schistosomiasis, also called snail-fever, suffer chronic diarrhoea, fatigue and fever. In severe cases, infection can lead to swollen stomachs, bladder cancer, liver damage and death.
It is the world's second-most prevalent tropical disease after malaria, affecting 207m people of whom 726,000 are Chinese, according to the most recent official figures, from 2004. People around Poyang, one of the areas where the disease is endemic, laud Chairman Mao for ensuring the number is no higher. He ordered a fierce, if rudimentary, campaign in the late 1950s when cases neared 12m. Scores of peasants were told to sharpen their chopsticks and spear as many snails as they could find. The campaign reduced cases by several million in a decade and Mao penned a poem: “Farewell, God of Plague”.
Comments