Irrigation Practices and Intestinal Helminth Infections in Southern and Central Zones of Tigray

Background: Irrigation practices have impact on the distribution of schistosomiasis; so, identifying newly establishedschistosomiasis transmission foci allows for designing prevention and control strategy.Objective: To establish schistosomiasis prevalence and intensity in relation to development of water bodies forirrigation.Methods: A survey of stool specimens of 2000 school children using Kato thick smear method was carried out inCentral and Southern Tigray between October 2001 and January 2002.Results: Among the 1012 males and 998 females examined, 29% males and 27.5% females were found positive forone or more parasite. The prevalence of S. mansoni was 27% in longstanding irrigated, 10.8% in recently constructedirrigation schemes and 1.8% in the non-irrigated rural localities. In the urban setting, its prevalence was 15.5% in areaswith water body nearby and 0.5% in areas with no water body nearby (