ASSESSMENT OF CURE BY DETECTION OF CIRCULATING ANTIGENS IN SERUM AND URINE, FOLLOWING SCHISTOSOMIASIS MASS TREATMENT IN 2 VILLAGES OF THE OFFICE-DU-NIGER, MALI

Eight weeks after mass chemotherapy with 40 mg/kg praziquantel in two villages in Office du Niger (an irrigation area in Mali, endemic for b oth Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni) the circulating a nodic (CAA) and cathodic (CCA) antigen detection assays were carried o ut on serum and urine samples. Both prior and post treatment highest p revalence was measured with the urine-CCA assay. Cure rates determined by antigen detection were almost half that of the egg counting method s. It was shown that the reduction in intensity should be preferential ly assessed by the serum-CAA assay. Compared with egg detection, a sin gle antigen detection assay gave a much better assessment of the impac t of chemotherapy. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.