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We describe the design and report baseline results of a cluster-randomized intervention to determine the importance of bovines for Schistosoma japonicum transmission in southern China. The study involves four matched village pairs in Hunan and Jiangxi Provinces, with a village within each pair randomly selected as intervention (human and bovine praziquantel treatment) or control (human praziquantel treatment only). Total study population prevalences at baseline were 12.4% (n = 5,390) and 15.2% (n = 1,573) for humans and bovines, respectively; village prevalences were similar within pairs. Bovine contamination index calculations showed that bovines less than 24 months of age were responsible for 74% of daily bovine environmental contamination with S. japonicum eggs. The village characteristics and baseline results underpin a rigorous study, which has major implications for deployment of a transmission-blocking bovine vaccine against S. japonicum. The combination of such a vaccine with other control strategies could potentially eliminate S. japonicum from southern China.
Received February 18, 2007. Accepted for publication June 19, 2007.
Acknowledgments: We thank the staff at the Jiangxi and Hunan Provincial Institutes of Parasitic Diseases–Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and the villagers who participated in the study.
Financial support: This study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and a Wellcome Trust (United Kingdom) International Collaborative Research Grants Scheme Award. Darren J. Gray is a National Health and Medical Research Council Postgraduate Public Health Scholar.
Disclosure: None of the authors have any conflicts of interest.
* Address correspondence to Darren J. Gray, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston. Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. E-mail: d.gray1{at}uq.edu.au
Authors addresses: Darren J. Gray and Gail M. Williams, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, The University of Queensland and The Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia and School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston. Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. Yuesheng Li, Hunan Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Yueyang, Peoples Republic of China and Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, The University of Queensland and The Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia. Honggen Chen, Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Nanchang, Peoples Republic of China. Robert S. Li, Simon J. Forsyth, and Adrian G. Barnett, School of Population Health, The University of Queensland, Herston Road, Herston. Brisbane, Queensland 4006, Australia. Jiagang Guo and Zheng Feng, Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, 207 Rui Jin Er Lu, Shanghai 200005, Peoples Republic of China. Donald P. McManus, Australian Centre for International and Tropical Health and Nutrition, The University of Queensland and The Queensland Institute of Medical Research, 300 Herston Road, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia.
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