Offering an example for transnational cooperation and successful reduction of a neglected tropical disease, this volume shows how Chinese scientists and local physicians controlled schistosomiasis in Zanzibar. Over a four-year study, local medical specialists and the population of Zanzibar were taught how to diagnose the parasitosis caused by flukes (trematode worms) of the genus Schistosoma. Furthermore, methods to eliminate the disease and prevent new infections were established. The developed control system will avoid repeated increase of human schistosomiasis, which is still prevalent in the tropics and subtropics. Rural populations and poor communities lacking access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation are most affected.

This book is a blueprint of activities urgently needed to combat schistosomiasis in countries with low medical impact. The strategies outlined are particularly relevant to parasitologists and professionals in public health, physicians, medical personnel and also governmental, healthcare and pharmaceutical institutions.

Professor Heinz Mehlhorn studied at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn (Germany). He was chairman of the parasitological institutes in Düsseldorf and Bochum. As a former president of the World Society of Protozoology and long-standing member of the steering committee of the World Society of Parasitologists he runs ongoing lectures in parasitology in several countries and teaches courses for medical students in Düsseldorf. He has published a variety of specialist books on parasitological problems in German, French, English and Spanish. He holds the patents on 12 antiparasitic drugs, which are the basis of products sold by the university spin-off company Alpha-Biocare GmbH (Neuss, Germany), which produces medications, repellents and wound care products for humans and animals.

Kun Yang is Professor of schistosomiasis control and global health at the Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases in China. He is secretary general of the Jiangsu Provincial Endemic Diseases Association, and president of the professional committee of schistosomiasis. He has published over 100 peer reviewed original research articles and a variety of specialist books on schistosomiasis control and elimination in China. He has received national and international awards for his work.