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Journal of Tropical Pediatrics Advance Access published online on November 5, 2009
Journal of Tropical Pediatrics, doi:10.1093/tropej/fmp106
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© The Author [2009]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Schistosomiasis haematobium prevalence and risk factors in a school-age population of peri-urban Lusaka, Zambia

Jessica Agnew-Blaisa, Julia Carnevaleb, Adrienne Gropperb, Edgar Shilikac, Richard Bailb and Mary Ngomac

aHarvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
bHarvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
cUniversity of Zambia School of Medicine, Lusaka, Zambia

Correspondence: Adrienne Gropper, Harvard Medical School, Peabody Society, 260 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. E-mail <adagropper{at}hms.harvard.edu>.


  Abstract

Given association of the parasite Schistosoma haematobium with coastal and rural/agricultural populations, there is little documentation to date of infection patterns in today’s rapidly urbanizing non-coastal regions. We conducted an observational study of 5–17-year-old school children (N = 1583) in peri-urban compounds of Lusaka, Zambia. Demographic information, medical history, physical examination findings and urinalysis results were recorded. Prevalence of schistosomiasis in the population was 20.72%. Significant risk factors for infection were male gender [odds ratio (OR) 2.42], age of 9–12 years or 13–17 years (OR 3.33 and 3.26, respectively, compared with 5–8-year-olds) and single and/or double orphan status (OR 1.43). Clinical officers detected schistosomiasis with a sensitivity of 24.70% and a specificity of 98.17% after history and physical examination. These results reveal that peri-urban populations have a significant but under-recognized vulnerability to infection, and suggest that only history and physical examination are inadequate for identifying a treatment population.

The first three authors contributed equally to this work.


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