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bilharzia
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Bilharzia
Disease that causes anaemia, inflammation, formation of scar tissue, dysentery, enlargement of the spleen and liver, cancer of the bladder, and cirrhosis of the liver. It is contracted by bathing in water contaminated with human sewage. Some 200 million people are thought to suffer from this disease in the tropics, and 750,000 people a year die.
Freshwater snails act as host to the first larval stage of blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma; when these larvae leave the snail in their second stage of development, they are able to pass through human skin, become sexually mature, and produce quantities of eggs, which pass to the intestine or bladder. Numerous eggs are excreted from the body in urine or faeces to continue the cycle. Treatment is by means of drugs, usually containing antimony, to kill the parasites.
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Mali Flag
Green, yellow, and red are the pan-African colours. The flag is modelled on the French tricolour. The design was identical to the Rwandan tricolour, obliging that country to modify its flag. Effective date: 1 March 1961.
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