FOCI OF SCHISTOSOMA-MANSONI IN ASSIUT PROVINCE IN MIDDLE EGYPT

Following detection of Schistosma mansoni in a 12 years old boy who ha d both schistosomal polyposis and periportal fibrosis with hepatosplen omegaly, epidemiological studies to confirm local transmission were pe rformed in his and 30 other villages in Assiut Governorate, Egypt. The index case's brother and 6 of 380 inhabitants of his village who prov ided stool specimens were infected with S. mansoni and a farmer with d ysentery and hepatosplenomegaly had a positive rectal snip biopsy. All had hepatic abnormalities on ultrasound examination. Two of 221 schoo lchildren in another village had mixed infections with S. mansoni and S. haematobium; 17 others had only S. haematobium. None of 419 inhabit ants living near the infected boys had S. mansoni infection. Snails fr om canals and drains near both villages were netted, identified, count ed and checked for infection: in the second village one of 1039 Bulinu s truncatus was infected with Schistosoma sp. but none of 859 Biomphal aria alexandrina was infected. Schistosomiasis mansoni is being focall y transmitted in 2 villages in Assiut Governorate and appears to be sp reading from Lower to Middle and Upper Egypt. We believe B. alexandrin a, which has been present in some of the waterways for at least 15 yea rs, were infected recently by local inhabitants returning from Iraq or by cattle traders or military recruits from the Delta.