About 560,000 school-age children are suffering from schistosomiasis diseases and soil transmitted helminths across the 13 local government areas and 18 development areas of Nasarawa State.
Commissioner of health, Pharmacist Ahmed Baba-Yahaya disclosed this during a press briefing to mark 2021 World Neglected Tropical Diseases celebration on Monday in Lafia.
Schistosomiasis, also known as snail fever and bilharzia, is a disease caused by parasitic flatworms called schistosomes in certain tropical and subtropical countries.
The parasites penetrate human skin to enter the bloodstream and migrate to the liver, intestines and other organs.
Its symptoms include rashes, itchy skin, fever, chills, cough, headache, stomach pain, joint pain and muscle aches.
The commissioner said the anomaly has been affecting school enrolment around the affected councils with the situation compounded by the inability of Benue, Kogi, Taraba, Kaduna states and the Federal Capital Territory, which share a border with Nasarawa to effectively tackle the disease in their respective domain.
