Background: Irrigation practices have impact on the distribution of schistosomiasis; so, identifying newly established
schistosomiasis transmission foci allows for designing prevention and control strategy.
Objective: To establish schistosomiasis prevalence and intensity in relation to development of water bodies for
irrigation.
Methods: A survey of stool specimens of 2000 school children using Kato thick smear method was carried out in
Central 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 for
one or more parasite. The prevalence of S. mansoni was 27% in longstanding irrigated, 10.8% in recently constructed
irrigation schemes and 1.8% in the non-irrigated rural localities. In the urban setting, its prevalence was 15.5% in areas
with water body nearby and 0.5% in areas with no water body nearby (P