Schistosomiasis is a water-borne parasitic disease that affects most tropical regions. It is caused by infection with parasitic worms of the genus Schistosoma and poses a big public health threat to affected communities and individuals. More than 200 million people are infected worldwide, and 85 percent of the burden is concentrated in sub -Saharan Africa. It is important to recognize the risk factors which favor development of infection and to focus on countries which are at high risk.
In this thesis, sub- Saharan African (SSA) countries with high prevalence of schistosomiasis infection (living in endemic areas) were identified. Risk factors were also identified and their association with schistosomiasis prevalence was assessed. The results indicate that high literacy rates are associated with low schistosomiasis infection rates. Such results are of great public health significance because neglected tropical diseases like schistosomiasis could be prevented by increasing literacy in at- risk populations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-01062010-223242 |
| Date | 28 January 2010 |
| Creators | Sibomana, Laurien |
| Contributors | Clareann H. Bunker, PhD, David Finegold, MD, Kristen J. Mertz, MD, MPH |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-01062010-223242/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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