Abstract：Objective To understand the infection of Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) among wild rats and wild fecal on river beaches with Oncomelania snails, to explore sensitive and effective monitoring methods, and to reduce the potential risk of schistosomiasis transmission. Methods We selected river beaches with high epidemic risk every year and caught wild rats by setting rat traps. 200 rat traps were set on each beach each time, with four times a year. The recovery rate and capture rate of the rat traps were counted. The captured wild rats were dissected one by one to observe the infection of S. japonicum. We adopted 20 × 20m systematic sampling or combined with environmental sampling method to collect wild manure on beaches with Oncomelania snails. The status of S. japonicum positive in wild feces was detected by hatching test. Results From 2016 to 2020, a total of 9,820 rat traps were set on 5 river beaches with Oncomelania snails, and 9,643 rat traps were retrieved, with the recovery rate of 98.20%. A total of 215 wild rats were captured, with the capture rate being 2.23%. 14 positive rats were detected through dissection experiments, with the positive rate of 6.51%. The positive rate was 8.33% in 2016 and 34.62% in 2017. The positive rate of wild rats in eastern beach of the Pingjiang was 8.33% in 2016 and 26.67% in 2017. The positive rate in Shuanggang beach was 55.56%. We accumulatively conducted 20 surveys on wild manure, and obtained 156 aliquots of wild feces weighing 2,433g, including 136 aliquots of feces from goats and accounting for 87.18% of the total wild feces. All were negative by pathogenic test.Conclusion There were wild rats infected with S. japonicum on river beaches with Oncomelania snails in Jiangdu District of Yangzhou City, and many human and livestock activities were found. It is necessary to strengthen monitoring, improve the surveillance and early warning system and carry out risk assessment.
2022, Vol. 29 
