Infant schistosomiasis in Ghana: A survey in an irrigation community

• Main Authors: K. M. Bosompem, Irene A. Bentum, J. Otchere, W. K. Anyan, C. A. Brown, Y. Osada, S. Takeo, S. Kojima, N. Ohta
• Other Authors: University of Ghana
• Format: Review
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Immunology and Microbiology; Medicine
• Online Access: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/21366
• Institution: Mahidol University

We used a rapid, visually read, field applicable monoclonal antibody (MoAb)-dipstick assay for specific diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis together with microscopy to determine the prevalence of infant schistosomiasis in a community in the Awutu-Efutu Senya District in the Central Region of Ghana. The study group consisted of 97 infants (51 males and 46 females) aged 2 months to 5 years. A total of 75 of 97 (77.3%) subjects submitted stool samples; none had Schistosoma mansoni. Three individuals (3.1%) had hookworms but there were no other intestinal helminths. The urinary schistosomiasis prevalence by MoAb-dipstick (30%) was higher (P < 0.05) than that estimated by microscopy (11.2%). However, three of nine (33.3%) microscopically confirmed cases tested MoAb-dipstick positive after pre-treatment of the urine specimen with heat. The youngest infant to be found infected with S. haematobium microscopically was 4 months old. Fifteen of 71 S. haematobium egg negative individuals tested dipstick positive, giving a dipstick specificity of 78.9% as compared with microscopy as gold standard test. The relative sensitivity of the dipstick was 100%.