Schistosomiasis control and snail elimination in China

[...]the snails could not be eliminated completely, but officials nevertheless had blind faith in this method. Since the beginning of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in 1994, schistosomiasis has reemerged as a critical public health issue in China.3 Exacerbated by poor public awareness, since 2002 infection rates have risen. [...]it is dangerous for untrained people to capture these snails, because in the process they may have contact with infected water and become infected with the parasite.