China's schistosomiasis patients reached 843,000 at the end of 2003, and 24,000 of them were at the late stage, according to the Ministry of Health.

The disease was once brought under control in China, but a growing number of new patients has been recorded over the last few years, said Vice Health Minister Wang Longde.

The number of people contracted acute and contagious schistosomiasis jumped 59 percent in 2002 over the previous year, and the figure for 2003 was 22 percent more than 2002, said the official.

The Chinese government has mapped out a national program to control the spread of the disease in 4-5 years and basically root it out in 7-8 years, Wang said.

There were 11.6 million schistosomiasis patients in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded, and the figure dropped sharply to some 840,000 before a rebound was witnessed a few years ago, especially in areas along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in east China.

(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2004)