Prevalence and Intensity of Schistosoma Haematobium Infection in Six Villages of Upper Egypt *

Abstract

A cross-sectional survey for Schistosoma haematobium infection in 5,998 individuals, representing 31,803 persons in six rural villages of the Qena governorate, Upper Egypt, was completed. There were 2,223 persons (37.1%) excreting S. haematobium eggs identified by the nuclepore membrane filtration technique of a single urine specimen. Prevalence of infection ranged from 23.9% to 64.0% among the six villages. Quantitatively the overall geometric mean egg-count was 48.1 eggs/10 ml urine. A survey of proximal canals was conducted and 9 of 4,312 Bulinus snails were infected with schistosomes (0.21%). The stools of 2 of 507 adolescent males were positive for S. mansoni. No Biomphalaria snails were found. When these findings are compared to past studies, S. haematobium prevalence appears to have substantially increased.