AID grant no. HRN-5600-G-00-3023-00 to the University of New Mexico for the development of safe, sustainable methods of controlling schistosomiasis in Kenya

The overall strategy is as follows. Experimental and control sites will be selected, and a subset of children known to be infected with S. mansoni will be selected for further study. An intervention phase will begin with the introduction of crayfish at experimental sites. Once the crayfish have been established, the children specified will be treated to eliminate infection and then be monitored to determine if they become reinfected. Control and experimental sites will then be compared with respect to snail densities and prevalence of infected snails, and most important, rates of reinfection in the selected sample of children. During a post intervention stage, all infected persons in all study sites will be offered treatment. If the use of crayfish succeeds in reducing snail populations and schistosomiasis transmission in experimental sites, crayfish will also be introduced into the control sites.