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Three Gorges Dam Boosts Parasitic Infections
(Pay article. Additional info from the print edition.)...potentially deadly schistosomiasis, also known as "snail fever", which infects snails and people, has long been a priority for China. In 1949, some 12 million people were infected... Current infections are on the upswing, from 700k in 2000 to 850k today. ...an even deadlier parasitic disease, hydatidosis, caused by a parasitic worm, is spreading across the Tibetan Plateau and western Sichuan Province...at least 600k Chinese are currently infected, and an additional 60 million people are at risk. Humans usually contract the disease by contact with the eggs of the parasite expelled in canine feces. If not treated, it results in likely death... Culling infected dog populations is not feasible in Tibet, where the large Buddhist population strongly resists the practice... Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-08-03 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=125813 |