Second only to malaria as the most devastating parasitic disease in the world, schistosomiasis annually infects 200 million people and claims 200,000 lives. Another 800 million people are at risk, predominantly across Africa, eastern Latin America and southeast Asia. While there are existing cures, reinfection rates are very high.Jason Rohr, the Ludmilla F., Stephen J. and Robert T. Galla College Professor of Biological Sciences and chair of the biology department, works in more than 20 Senegalese villages alongside local partners such as Espoir Pour La Santé (EPLS) and Station d’Innovation Aquacole to address issues related to schistosomiasis.The infection is caused by a parasite that resides on snails, which live in weedy rivers and lakes where people drink, bathe, and launder. Rohr realized the number of parasites would decrease if the number of snails decreased, which could be achieved if the weeds decreased. Working alongside local partners in St. Louis, Senegal, they started weeding the water. Immediately, disease reinfection rates fell. What’s more, the villagers used the weeds to feed livestock and as compost fertilizer to increase food production. This became an added incentive for the community to remove the vegetation. A simple solution helped solve problems in disease, energy, and food scarcity.Learn more: https://go.nd.edu/InfectiousDiseaseWWYFF
More from What Would You Fight For?
- 2:01Fighting for the Lives of ChildrenWhen your child is diagnosed with a rare, genetic disease, it feels like you’re rolling down a mountain, just waiting to hit rock bottom, says Doug Berns. When his daughter, Samantha, was diagnosed with Niemann-Pick Type C, an incurable, neurodegenerative disorder, he and his wife watched as Samantha’s energy depleted, her balance became shaky, and her laughter quieted.At Notre Dame, researchers in the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases seek to identify and advance treatments for a number of rare diseases, including Niemann-Pick Type C.For more information: http://ntrda.me/LivesofChildren
- 2:01Fighting to Walk AgainPerhaps no greater motivation exists in this world than hope. For the 450,000 Americans with spinal cord injuries, the hope that they can regain mobility, walk again, run again is often what pushes them through each therapy session. But those same patients often plateau in their recovery, and hope dwindles.Though he’s not a physician or physical therapist, Notre Dame engineering professor Jim Schmiedeler’s work may contribute to better success for these patients. In his locomotion and biomechanics lab, he uses tools from his biped robotics research to better understand the challenges spinal cord injuries present for those learning to walk again. By partnering with researchers at The Ohio State University, Schmiedeler can also test how lessons learned from experiments with the robots, which involve no risk to humans, can be translated into innovative therapeutic strategies that benefit patients. In doing so, he believes his work can help many of those individuals with a spinal cord injury to walk again.Read More: http://ntrda.me/WalkAgain
