Schistosomiasis is listed as a “neglected” tropical disease by the World Health Organization, which means that modern countries typically overlook the condition. It is caused by a parasitic worm and is second only to malaria as a devastating parasitic disease.
It primarily affects poorer countries with nearly 200 million cases annually. Even so, only a few drugs exist to treat it, and there don’t appear to be any new drugs being developed in the pipeline. It’s a neglected disease.
Schistosomiasis is also neglected because it is a stealth disease. The onset of the infection is slow. A flatworm penetrates the skin of someone walking or working or swimming in contaminated water. The person doesn’t feel sick. They pick up more parasites.
The infected individual continues to feel fine despite the infection, which remains undetected. Then the worms begin to multiply. As the parasite population increases, the infected person may begin to feel sluggish or slightly off. They may experience a fever or abdominal pain, but dismiss the symptoms as the flu or a cold. In parts of Africa and South East Asia where schistosomiasis is rampant, people can be infected for years before they start feeling sick.
The standard treatment is a drug called praziquantel — three doses spread out over the course of one day can cure most people of the worms that cause schistosomiasis.
Now, scientists are looking at an herb to treat this disease as well. A cup of tea may be just as effective as praziquantel.
Researchers are investigating artemisinin and other derivatives of wormwood to treat malaria parasites in people. They are also investigating whether it may also kill the worms that cause schistosomiasis.
In a study that was published in 2019, researchers reported on a clinical trial on 800 people in the Maniema Province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, all of whom had schistosomiasis. Half were treated with the drug, and half got wormwood tea. The scientists found that wormwood tea cured schistosomiasis more quickly and with fewer side effects than the drug.
Both groups were completely cured of the parasites. But the group drinking the wormwood infusions got rid of the parasites faster and reported fewer side effects. The tea is much more benign to the patient. Pharmaceutical treatment with praziquantel can cause headaches, nausea, and fatigue.
One downside of wormwood tea was its bitter taste. Some people like it, while others despise it. But one of the benefits of using wormwood is that the shrub grows readily in warm tropical places where schistosomiasis is rampant.
Other studies have shown that wormwood shows promise in killing immature stages of the Schistosoma parasite. However, those studies have been smaller and had no control group.
The bigger problem with schistosomiasis is that just purging the parasites with a pill or by tea won’t lead to the elimination of the disease. Schistosomiasis is spread in a cycle involving people and a particular species of freshwater snails.
So just killing off all the parasites that are inside people doesn’t do any good if they can get re-infected the next day by contaminated water.
It’s almost impossible to get rid of schistosomiasis just by treating it repeatedly. What it really requires is improvements in water and sanitation. And upgrading an entire community’s water and waste systems is a lot harder than giving a patient a pill or some tea.
But addressing schistosomiasis is crucial. As more and more worms accumulate in a person, the individual suffers a lack of energy and has trouble digesting food. As the number of worms swells and they lodge their eggs in various organs, many people end up with fibrosis of the liver.
In addition, it impacts blood circulation and leads to enlarged blood vessels around the liver. These can burst into your esophagus. An individual may hemorrhage to death.
The disease is under-researched, so there is a lack of data on how many people have or die from schistosomiasis. The World Health Organization estimates that schistosomiasis kills between 25,000 and 200,000 people a year. It’s possible that some simple treatments like wormwood tea could help combat it.