Abstract
BackgroundWater resources development promotes agricultural expansion and food security. But are these benefits offset by increased infectious disease risk? Dam construction on the Senegal River in 1986 was followed by agricultural expansion and increased transmission of human schistosomes. Yet the mechanisms linking these two processes at the individual and household levels remain unclear. We investigated the association between household land use and schistosome infection in children.MethodsWe analyzed cross-sectional household survey data (n = 655) collected in 16 rural villages in August 2016 across demographic, socio-economic and land use dimensions, which were matched to Schistosoma haematobium (n = 1232) and S. mansoni (n = 1222) infection data collected from school-aged children. Mixed effects regression determined the relationship between irrigated area and schistosome infection presence and intensity.ResultsControlling for socio-economic and demographic risk factors, irrigated area cultivated by a household was associated with an increase in the presence of S. haematobium infection (odds ratio [OR] = 1.14; 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 1.03–1.28) but not S. mansoni infection (OR = 1.02; 95% CI: 0.93–1.11). Associations between infection intensity and irrigated area were positive but imprecise (S. haematobium: rate ratio [RR] = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.98–1.13, S. mansoni: RR = 1.09; 95% CI: 0.89–1.32).ConclusionsHousehold engagement in irrigated agriculture increases individual risk of S. haematobium but not S. mansoni infection. Increased contact with irrigated landscapes likely drives exposure, with greater impacts on households relying on agricultural livelihoods.
Highlights
Water resources development promotes agricultural expansion and food security
We investigated whether participation in agriculture at the household level was associated with individual-level schistosome infection
Association between irrigated area on schistosome infection For all four outcomes, we report estimates and confidence intervals for three distinct models: (1) crude bivariate models of exposure and outcome, (2) adjusted models that include directed acyclic graph (DAG)-based covariates and (3) mixed models that include DAG-based covariates and random intercepts accounting for the nested structure of the data (Fig. 3)
Summary
Water resources development promotes agricultural expansion and food security. Are these benefits offset by increased infectious disease risk? Freshwater snails of the genera Bulinus serve as the intermediate host of S. haematobium while Biomphalaria transmit S. mansoni. These snail genera have distinct ecologies: Bulinus snails are able to withstand prolonged periods of drying while Biomphalaria are sensitive to saline conditions [7]. Species from both genera, can colonize irrigation canals [8,9,10]. Few studies disentangle the environmental and socio-behavioral mechanisms of schistosomiasis occurrence in areas where water resources are actively managed
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