Schistosomiasis of the female genital tract: Public health aspects

In this paper Gabriele Poggensee, Hermann Feldmeier and Ingela Krantz discu ss the public health relevance of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS). Som e of the stated hypotheses are supported only by clinical observations and/ or circumstantial evidence as valid epidemiological and immunological data of this disease entity are still very scanty. Morbidity caused by the prese nce of schistosome eggs in the lower and upper genital tract have been almo st completely neglected during the past two decades. This has been acknowle dged by the WHO and, in 1997, the Gender Task Force of the WHO's Tropical D isease Research Programme (TDR) included FGS in a list of scientific areas that deserve high research priority.