SCHISTOSOMA-HAEMATOBIUM INFECTION AMONG ETHIOPIAN PRISONERS OF WAR (1977-1988) RETURNING FROM SOMALIA

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.