The Agence Regionale de Sante Corse is reporting a cluster of the parasitic disease, schistosomiasis, in people who swam in a river in Southern Corsica, according to a press statement (computer translated).
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) says the Institut de Veille Sanitaire in France was notified of the cases in April. For more infectious disease news and information, visit and “like” the Infectious Disease News Facebook page.
The cluster included a family of three (two children and their father) who contracted Schistosoma haemotobium, which causes urinary schistosomiasis. The apparent source was fresh water swimming on the island of Corsica in the MediterraneanSea, which may have occurred several years ago. Corsica is not a schistosomiasis endemic area and the family had no history of travel to an endemic country.
In addition, the ECDC reports:
Additional cases were detected among two other French families that had accompanied the family of the first cases on vacation in a campground near Porto Vecchio, southern Corsica, in August 2013. All cases shared the same exposure to a natural swimming area (fresh water). Among the 12 members of the three families, six cases were confirmed through detection of S. haematobium eggs in urine and two probable cases were identified.
Furthermore, five additional cases of urinary schistosomiasis were reported from Germany in a family of six members. The travel history of the German and French families showed that they all had stayed in the same campground and reported recreational water activities in the Cavo River in August 2013.
Image/CDC
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