Li urges elimination of snail fever

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has called for comprehensive prevention and treatment measures to wipe out schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease commonly known as snail fever.

Li made the remarks in an instruction to the national conference on snail fever held in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, on Friday.

Eradicating schistosomiasis remains an "arduous" task despite achievements in recent years, Li said.

Li asked related agencies to continue to carry out comprehensive prevention and treatment measures by putting a check on the source of the infection at the core, improve prevention and control ability, and cut off the spreading channels effectively.

Sound treatment should be offered to patients, said the Premier, adding that poor people should be given special assistance.

Carried by freshwater snails, schistosomiasis is a fatal parasitic disease that attacks the blood and liver.

The disease is mainly in spread in provinces along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as those provinces south of the river.

According to Vice Premier Liu Yandong, who was present at the conference, snail fever has been eradicated in five high-prevalence provincial regions while other regions have seen their recorded number of cases at a record lows.

Liu called for efforts to speed up drafting the prevention and treatment plan on snail fever for the next ten years.