Lessons from a 15-year-old boy with advanced schistosomiasis japonica in China: a case report

Schistosomiasis is a chronic, parasitic disease caused by flukes (trematodes) of the genus Schistosoma, which presents the most important global burden of the 17 neglected tropical diseases listed by the World Health Organization. China has made great achievements in schistosomiasis control, and now China is planning to move forward, to eliminate schistosomiasis within 2020, but the fact cannot be denied that the possibility of schistosome infection is still there in some endemic due to its zoonotic nature as well as wide distribution of its intermediate hosts (snails). Thus, how to interrupt the transmission in areas with distribution of schistosomes and intermediate snails becomes a very serious challenge that China is facing. In this paper, it is reported an advanced schistosomiasis japonica case of a 15-year-old boy which is extremely rare in the current schistosomiasis control in China. Thus, it is supposed to strengthen health education of school children and to train professional physicians of local hospitals.