Abstract

This review describes the types of habitats in which human schistosomiasis is transmitted in wetlands across southern Africa. The snails that serve as the parasites’ intermediate hosts are tolerant of water with a wide range of chemical composition but are restricted by current velocity, temperature and habitat permanence. Human contact with the water in snail habitats is crucial to the establishment of transmission and children are more frequently and more severely infected than adults. Swimming is the contact activity that contributes most to transmission. Case studies illustrating the roles of high temperatures, hydrology and over-fishing in the epidemiology of the disease in the region are also reviewed.