The German physician, Theodor Bilharz was the first person to recognize that urinary schistosomiasis was caused by the parasitic flatworm. He was working in Egypt in 1851 when he made this discovery. Thus the condition is also known as bilharzia or bilharziasis.
The Brazilian parasitologist Pirate da Silva described the whole disease cycle in 1908.
The disease is found in tropical countries in Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.
There are 5 species of the flatworm that infect humans and they are often found in freshwater, where they can bore through the skin and enter the bloodstream. Even though they have a predilection for the urinary bladder or the intestines, they can ultimately affect other organs, even the central nervous system.
When the bladder is infected, one of the symptoms is hematuria or bloody urine. In areas where the disease is endemic, it is not surprising to find a large percentage of the population with bloody urine. The attitudes of the people in these areas in interesting and are illustrated by this study from Nigeria in 2004.
The researchers from the College of Medicine at the Edo State University questioned about 3800 people from a population in southeastern Nigeria, where genitourinary bilharziasis is endemic. The questions touched on their knowledge about and attitudes towards the disease – whether they used preventative methods when in freshwater bodies, whether they had been infected before, if they got treatment when infected or knew the cause of the disease.
Even though knowledge of the disease was quite high, the researchers were struck by the attitude from a fair number of the respondents. When asked about getting treatment for symptoms like hematuria, the stated that:
“… their condition was a stage in the course of their human development and therefore, it is a natural stage in the course of existence. They have learned to live with it until it disappears on its own or they die with it. However, they do not believe in divorce even when there is no child.”
This attitude has also been confirmed anecdotally by colleagues who have worked in other areas in West Africa where genitourinary bilharziasis is endemic. They have heard responses like: “Everyone’s urine here is red. What do you mean that is abnormal?”
This dire lack of understanding this morbid condition does not spare them from the sequelae of genitourinary bilharziasis – bladder cancer and kidney failure.
The attitudes of these people in areas endemic with schistosomiasis almost parallel a rather disturbing state in the US – the epidemic of gun violence and mass shootings..
Dear America, it is not normal that a young man shoots up a school with six and seven-year-olds. It is not normal that people are gunned down in churches, synagogues and movie theaters for no apparent reason. It is not normal that this occurs almost every week.
IT IS NOT NORMAL!!!
These killings should not be a stage in the course of our human development and should not be seen as a natural stage in the course of our existence. We should not learn to live with it until it disappears on its own or they die with it. We should not.
IT IS ABNORMAL!!!
Maybe you think it is a small price to pay for the right to bear arms. Listen, it is a price alright but it is not small. It is destructive and evil. Accepting it as a way of life is wrong.
I am not asking for anyone to take away people’s guns. All I am saying is that there should be a sense of urgency to do something about this scourge – and it is a scourge. Thoughts and prayers just aren’t cutting it. The death of fewer than 5 people has literally halted development of driverless cars and yet over 300 people have been killed this year alone by mass shooters and not one committee has been set up by lawmakers to deal with this abomination.
Are we as a nation so jaded we cannot see the “blood in the urine” anymore? Are the killings now just par for the course? Part of life?
Every day I drop my daughter off at school, I sit in the car watching her walk into the school wondering if she will walk out again that afternoon. I sit there knowing that there is a large possibility that I might not see her again. That even though there are cops present at the school, all it takes is one bullet. And I know I am not alone. All across this nation millions of parents live with this dread and foreboding. Is this normal? Should we just accept it like docile sheep being led to a slaughter?
The Nigerians in explaining why they did not get treatment for hematuria secondary to bilharzia replied, “we do not believe in divorce if there is no child”. It pretty much sounds like a play on the marriage oath, “Till Death do us part”. I guess like them, we plan to “live with it till it disappears on its own” or better still, maybe we all need to get guns and if we have to go down in a blaze of glory.
That cannot be normal.
Thoughts and prayers for the victims is indeed not enough!
Parents are regularly seen on TV lamenting the loss of children, and we weep with them, but ooohhh noooo, in politics, we can’t help this situation! What a crying shame!
Thanks for putting it into words and I hope i’m our lifetime, we get to see sensible gun control measures!
Thank you
“God with us”