Research: in the field : Out of Africa

29 March 1997

As many as one in 11 Australians who travel to Africa return
infected with schistosomiasis, a disease of the gastrointestinal and urinary
tracts caused by exposure to a waterborne parasite. Common symptoms are
lethargy, diarrhoea and abdominal pain, though complications can involve
internal bleeding and bladder cancer. Researchers from the Royal Melbourne
Hospital, Fairfield Hospital in Melbourne and Westmead Hospital in Sydney
surveyed patients who attended the travel clinic at Fairfield in 1994 and said
they intended to travel to Malawi, Zimbabwe or Botswana. Testing of 117 of the
travellers after they returned indicated that 10 were infected. Exposure to the
parasite normally occurs when swimming or wading in dams, lakes or slow-moving
rivers. Writing in the Medical Journal of Australia (vol 166), the
researchers say that “a considerable number” of Australian travellers to Africa
are at risk of schistosomiasis. “As complications can be serious, screening is
recommended for individuals with any risk of infection,” they say.