Biological control of the snail intermediate hosts of Schistosoma mansoni in Martinique, French West Indies.

In Martinique water-cress beds constituted the last transmission sites for schistosomiasis. The competitor snail, Melanoides tuberculata, was introduced at the beginning of 1983 to a group of water-cress beds and eliminated the snail hosts, Biomphalaria glabrata and B. straminea, in less than two years. Following this first success, M. tuberculata was introduced to the other groups of beds which were inventoried at the beginning of the eighties. At the present time, B. glabrata and B. straminea have totally disappeared from eight sites and only a few individuals have been recorded from 12 sites. The two remaining water-cress beds have dried up and were abandoned.