Subsequently, it is believed that schistosomiasis have spread to Egypt as a result of the importation of monkeys and slaves during reign of the fifth dynasty of pharaohs (~ 2494–2345 BC).Schistosomiasis is known as bilharzia or bilharziosis in many countries, after German physician Theodor Bilharz, who first described the cause of urinary schistosomiasis in 1851.The first physician who described the entire disease cycle was the Brazilian parasitologist Pirajá da Silva in 1908. The earliest known case of infection was discovered in 2014, belonging to a child who lived 6,200 years ago.It was a common cause of death for Egyptians in the Greco-Roman Period.In 2016 more than 200 million people needed treatment but only 88 million people were actually treated for schistosomiasis. Etymology
Schistosomiasis is named for the genus of parasitic flatworm Schistosoma, whose name means split body. The name Bilharzia comes from Theodor Bilharz, a German pathologist working in Egypt in 1851 who first discovered these worms. Society and culture
Schistosomiasis is endemic in Egypt, exacerbated by the countrys dam and irrigation projects along the Nile. From the late 1950s through the early 1980s, infected villagers were treated with repeated injections of tartar emetic. Epidemiological evidence suggests that this campaign unintentionally contributed to the spread of hepatitis C via unclean needles. Egypt has the worlds highest hepatitis C infection rate, and the infection rates in various regions of the country closely track the timing and intensity of the anti-schistosomiasis campaign.
The influx of extra sodium ions triggers prolonged muscle contractions, which are the hallmark of myotonia.Potassium-aggravated myotonia is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means one copy of the altered gene in each cell is sufficient to cause the disorder. In some cases, an affected person inherits a mutation in the SCN4A gene from one affected parent. Other cases result from new mutations in the gene. These cases occur in people with no history of the disorder in their family. References


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