Third World, schistosomiasis

Triorganotin compounds have also been used experimentally in controUed-release formulations to control the infective snail vector in the debiHtating tropical disease schistosomiasis (biHiarzia) and to control mosquitoes in stagnant ponds (103). As yet, the large-scale use of such methods has Htfle support in the host third world countries where these problems are most severe. Tributyltin chloride has been used to confer rodent-repeUent properties on wine and cable coatings (104). 

Oxamniquine is an important Third World drug used in the treatment of schistosomiasis (bilharzia). This disease affects an estimated two hundred million people and is contracted by swimming or wading in infected water. The disease is carried by a snail which can penetrate human skin and enter the blood supply. There, it produces eggs which become trapped in organs and tissues, and this in turn leads to the symptoms of the disease. 

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