Children in Africa at risk from snail fever

Scottish scientists have called for African infants to be routinely screened for a disease that causes impaired memory and organ damage.

Edinburgh University research has challenged a misconception that infants in sub- Saharan Africa are at low risk of contracting an illness called snail fever, also known as bilharzia or schistosomiasis.

Currently, infants are not regularly tested for infection as they are perceived to be at low risk of exposure to the water-borne disease and not to suffer severely from its effects.

However, researchers tested hundreds of children aged between one and five and found that infection rates were high among pre-school children.

They believe this may be because they often accompany their mothers to rivers and wells.

Symptoms of the disease, which can include impaired memory and thought as well as damage to internal organs and stunted growth, are not always obvious.

The study found that a common snail fever drug, known as praziquantel, which is regularly given to older children and adults, can safely cure the infection in infants.

The treatment is cheap and effective, curing infection and stopping progress of disease in a single dose.

Researchers from Edinburgh University carried out studies in Zimbabwe and their results were combined with work by other teams in Mali, Sudan, Egypt, Niger and Uganda.

According to the World Health Organisation, snail fever affects 230 million people each year, most of whom are African. Some 33.5 million people were treated for the disease in 2010.

Children are especially vulnerable because they make frequent contact with infected water.