SCHISTOSOMA-MANSONI INFECTION IN A RECENTLY EXPOSED COMMUNITY IN SENEGAL - LACK OF CORRELATION BETWEEN LIVER MORPHOLOGY IN ULTRASOUND AND CONNECTIVE-TISSUE METABOLITES IN SERUM

Four hundred and seventy villagers of Ndombo, a village with recently established intensive transmission of Schistosoma mansoni in the Seneg al River Basin, were enrolled in a study with the intention to assess hepatosplenic morbidity. All patients were examined parasitologically and by ultrasound. Hepatic fibrosis serum markers were determined in 1 53 adult patients (aminoterminal propeptide of procollagen type III, h yaluronan and laminin). By ultrasound, about 60% of the patients showe d early stages of hepatic involvement, 3% of the patients unequivocall y showed severe hepatosplenic pathology (grade 3 according to the Mana gil classification), whereas in another study performed in the same vi llage 3 years earlier, no patients with severe hepatosplenic pathology had been found. No correlation between the aminoterminal propeptide o f procollagen type III, hyaluronan or laminin and the ultrasound findi ngs could be established. These hepatic fibrosis serum markers do not seem to be a sensitive method to detect early hepatic fibrosis in schi stosomiasis.