H. Birrie et al., SCHISTOSOMA-HAEMATOBIUM INFECTION AMONG ETHIOPIAN PRISONERS OF WAR (1977-1988) RETURNING FROM SOMALIA, Ethiopian medical journal, 31(4), 1993, pp. 259-264
Fifty Ethiopian male prisoners of war aged 20-34 years returning from
Somalia were examined at the Schistosomiasis Diagnostic Laboratory of
the Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Abeba University, Addis Abeba in
1988. Medical history was obtained and their urine was examined by the
filtration technique. Recovered eggs of S. haematobium were allowed t
o hatch as a test for viability. Positive patients were treated with p
raziquantel at a single dose of 40mg per kg. 94% of the prisoners gave
history of haematuria and 96 % gave history of treatment for schistos
omiasis while in Somalia. S. haematobium egg positivity rate was 30% a
nd all but one patient had viable eggs in their urine. The geometric m
ean egg count per 10ml urine was only 6.4. Urine examination of treate
d cases six weeks later showed 100% cure rate. A preliminary compatibi
lity study between Ethiopian Bulinus snails and the Somalian strain of
S. haematobium showed that B. abyssinicus and B. truncatus were susce
ptible to the parasite while B. africanus was only partially susceptib
le. The possibility that a foreign strain of S. haematobium may be int
roduced into ecologically and malacologically receptive areas in Ethio
pia is discussed.