Gynecological manifestations, histopathological findings, and schistosoma-specific polymerase chain reaction results among women with Schistosoma haematobium infection: a cross-sectional study in Madagascar.

Background: The pathophysiology of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) is only partially understood. This study aims to describe the histopathological findings, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results, and gynecological manifestations of FGS in women with different intensities of Schistosoma haematobium infection.

Methods: Women aged 15-35 years living in an S.

[The current epidemiological situation of cysticercosis in Madagascar].

Being associated to fecal-oral transmission, cysticercosis is contracted either by auto-infection or by ingestion of food contaminated with eggs from the pork tape worm (Taenia solium). In the stomach, the larvae named cysticercus (Cysticercus cellulosae) hatches from the eggs and invades the host through the mucosa membrane. Human cysticercosis occurs in highly prevalent proportions in many developing countries including Madagascar where hygiene conditions are deplicable.

Lot quality assurance sampling for screening communities hyperendemic for Schistosoma mansoni.

Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) was evaluated for rapid low cost identification of communities where Schistosoma mansoni infection was hyperendemic in southern Madagascar. In the study area, S. mansoni infection shows very focused and heterogeneous distribution requiring multifariousness of local surveys.

[Current epidemiological situation of bilharziasis in the Antananarivo plain].

In 1994, prior to the Project of Development of the Plain of Antananarivo, an epidemiological survey was conducted in primary schools to assess the level of schistosomiasis. The results of stool examination by the Kato-Katz method demonstrated a prevalence of 4.3% among 6,169 randomized schoolchildren.

[Validation of questionnaire methods to identify Schistosoma haematobium bilharziasis hyperendemic zones in Madagascar].

Schistosomiasis is a major public health problem in Madagascar. The aim of the national control program is to reduce the morbidity in hyperendemic areas. A prospective study has been conducted in Morombe and Ampanihy to elaborate a simple method to identify Shistosoma haematobium hyperendemic communities.

[Identification of communities endemic for urinary bilharziosis by the "Lot Quality Assurance Sampling" method in Madagascar].

Reduction of morbidity is the main component in the National Schistosomiasis Control Program in Madagascar. The lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) method has previously been shown as a useful tool in assessment of immunization coverage. A study was carried in the western part of Madagascar aiming to evaluate the applicability of the method in measuring the level of Schistosoma haematobium endemic level in different communities.

[Cysticercosis in the port of Mahajanga: more frequent than we thought!].

A seroepidemiological survey was carried out in July 1999 to assess the prevalence of cysticercosis in general population in the Mahajanga City (West of Madagascar). Blood specimens were collected from a randomised sample including 626 individuals more than 2 years old. ELISA and confirmative immunoblot techniques (EITB) were used to measure Cysticercus cellulosae antibodies.

Morbidity of schistosomiasis mansoni in the highlands of Madagascar and comparison of current sonographical classification systems.

To study the morbidity of schistosomiasis mansoni in the highlands of Madagascar, a cross-sectional study examined the extent to which liver fibrosis occurred in a rural community. The Managil and the Cairo classification systems were used. A second purpose was to investigate the effect of the measurements of 2 different branches of the portal vein (either segmental or sub-segmental branches) on the resulting staging of morbidity using the Cairo classification system.

Geographic differences in hepatosplenic complications of schistosomiasis mansoni and explanatory factors of morbidity.

In a study in three neighbouring villages of southern Madagascar, where Schistosoma mansoni is hyperendemic, ultrasound examination using the Niamey protocol showed marked differences in the burden of disease from one village to another. Hepatosplenic schistosomiasis was more frequent in the village with the highest geometric mean egg counts and the earliest onset of infections, demonstrating that the morbidity induced by S. mansoni may vary greatly within a given area.

Morbidity assessment in urinary schistosomiasis infection through ultrasonography and measurement of eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) in urine.

In a Schistosoma haematobium-endemic village in western Madagascar we evaluated ultrasonography and Eosinophil Cationic Protein (ECP) in urine as means to detect the associated urinary tract pathology. 192 individuals were matched according to age and sex, and grouped into infected persons with bladder and, if present, kidney pathology (n = 96); infected persons without pathology (n = 48) and noninfected persons without pathology (n = 48). The median urinary egg count was significantly higher in individuals with ultrasonographically detectable urinary tract pathology (115 eggs/10 ml urine) than in infected persons without (45 eggs/10 ml of urine).

Relationships between several markers of extracellular matrix turn-over and ultrasonography in human Schistosomiasis mansoni.

We measured the concentrations of several serum and urinary fibrosis markers, which are metabolites of extracellular matrix, in schistosomiasis patients to investigate their relationship with the ultrasonographic scoring system and with parasitologic data. This study was conducted in patients with various stages of the disease evaluated by ultrasonography (intestinal disease with no organ involvement, with minor hepatosplenic involvement and with severe disease) and in endemic controls. The level of hyaluronan, which were increased in infected patients compared with controls (P < 0.

Reversibility of Schistosoma mansoni-associated morbidity after yearly mass praziquantel therapy: ultrasonographic assessment.

A parasitological, clinical and ultrasonographic longitudinal study was undertaken in 1993 in a focus hyperendemic for Schistosoma mansoni infection in the central highlands of Madagascar. All the inhabitants were systematically treated with praziquantel. A complete examination and treatment were repeated each year.

[Effect of praziquantel on the uro-nephrologic complications of urinary bilharziasis].

This study shows the effect of praziquantel as a 12 month treatment on the uro-nephrological consequences of Schistosoma haematobium chronic infection. This was done in a hyperendemic setting in the middle west of Madagascar. 435 people with ova in their urine filtration test were followed up with clinical examination, ultrasonography, urinary sticks and creatininemia.

[Prevalence of uro-nephrologic complications of urinary bilharziasis in hyperendemic focus in Madagascar].

This prospective study was designed to look for and describe urologic and nephrologic consequences of urinary bilharziosis due to schistosoma haematobium in a hyperendemic hotbed in the middle west of Madagascar. Methodology included clinical examination, kidney and bladder ultrasonography, urine dipsticks and creatininemia. Amongst a population of 574 persons aged 5 years ore more, 436 (76%) had bilharziosis ova in the urine (filtration method).

Serum concentrations of sICAM-1, sE-, sP- and sL-selectins in patients with Schistosoma mansoni infection and association with disease severity.

Increased serum concentrations of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1, CD54) and of soluble E- (CD62E), but not soluble P- (CD62P) and L- (CD62 L) selectins, were detected in Malagasy patients living in an hyperendemic focus of Schistosoma mansoni. Levels of sICAM-1 remained elevated for several months after treatment with praziquantel. Serum levels of ICAM-1, but not of other markers, were significantly correlated with the disease severity, as indicated by ultrasonographical data, and with some circulating fibrosis markers (at least hyaluronic acid).

Clinical findings in female genital schistosomiasis in Madagascar.

To assess the morbidity of S. haematobium infection in women of reproductive age (15-49 years) in the western part of Madagascar, the village of Betalatala with a prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in women of 75.6% (95% confidence limit 69.

[Epidemiologic study of the main human intestinal nematodes in the middle west of Madagascar].

An epidemiological study of human intestinal helminthiasis was conducted during July and August 1995, in the middle west of Madagascar, with 4571 adults and children ranging from six months to 90 years, in 61 communities between Betafo and Miandrivazo. Faecal examination utilising the MIF concentration method revealed that ascariasis was the dominant nematodosis in the middle west with high prevalences in the high-altitude communities. Ascaris lumbricoides prevalences increase among children and women.

Schistosoma haematobium induced lesions in the female genital tract in a village in Madagascar.

Female genital schistosomiasis, FGS, was investigated in a gynaecological study as part of an overall community based morbidity survey, including parasitological and ultrasonographical examination, of a Schistosoma haematobium endemic area in Madagascar. Women (103), of childbearing age (15-49 years), were included for a gynaecological examination and visible lesions of vagina and cervix were biopsied in order to determine the origin of the lesion. Furthermore all women were screened for the presence of schistosome ova using PAP smears from the vagina and the endo/exo cervix.

In vivo and in vitro studies on the sonographical detection of Ascaris lumbricoides.

Intestinal ultrasound, a frequently applied diagnostic tool in industrialized nations, has recently also been introduced in tropical regions. This study attempts to describe the anatomical and sonographical features of Ascaris lumbricoides in the human intestine. In the course of a schistosomiasis morbidity study in Madagascar, 581 inhabitants of a rice-farming village on the high plateau of the island had their stools examined by means of a modified Kato-Katz thick smear technique (four slides per sample); 53% had eggs of Ascaris lumbricoides in their stools.

Schistosoma haematobium infection in western Madagascar: morbidity determined by ultrasonography.

To assess the morbidity related to Schistosoma haematobium infection in western Madagascar, an ultrasonographic examination was performed of 574 inhabitants > 5 years old in a village in an old-established endemic area where no prior systematic antischistosomal treatment had been given. The overall prevalence of infection was 75.9% and the geometric mean egg count of positive individuals was 36 eggs/10 mL of urine.

[Ultrasonographic evaluation of Schistosoma mansoni morbidity: comparison of Cairo/WHO and Managil-Hannover classifications].

A ultrasonographical survey of morbidity in schistosomiasis mansoni was carried out in two villages of an endemic area of Madagascar. Using the Managil-Hannover classification, the overall prevalence of morbidity in the first village was of 49.4% and of 39.

Ultrasonographical assessment of morbidity in schistosomiasis mansoni in Madagascar: a community-based study in a rural population.

Between June and November 1993, a parasitological, clinical and ultrasonographical survey was carried out in the mid west of Madagascar, among the whole population of a village where Schistosoma mansoni was endemic. S. mansoni eggs were found in the stools of 61.