Medical Mission to the Yemen, Southwest Arabia, 1951

Abstract

Summary The first parasitological survey of the Yemen, Southwest Arabia has made known the presence of certain parasites of man in a part of the world which until recently has been seldom visited by westerners. Our findings extend the known boundaries of distribution for Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium and reveal an unusual factor in the epidemiology of schistosomiasis mansoni. Rather high rates of infection with S. mansoni in the Yemen are attributed to the use for religious purposes of infected waters in ablution pools of mosques. Ascaris, Enterobius, Trichuris and Hymenolepis are quite common and Taenia saginata was found in the people of Ma'bar on the San'a plateau. Infections with hookworm, Wuchereria and Dracunculus were not recorded during this brief visit to the Yemen.