title: Fibre-optic sigmoidoscopy compared with the Kato technique in diagnosis and evaluation of the intensity of Schistosoma mansoni infection.
abstract: 450 patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, complaining of chronic abdominal pain and, coming from different countries endemic for schistosomiasis, were examined endoscopically using fibre-optic colono- or sigmoidoscopes, and rectal biopsies were examined for Schistosoma mansoni ova. After a preliminary study showed that more than 6 biopsies did not increase the positivity rate, 6 biopsies were taken from the rectum and examined by transparency technique. 280 were positive for S. mansoni, 9 of them having in addition S. haematobium. 4 patients had polyps in the sigmoid colon and rectum. When these positive cases were examined using duplicate 50 mg Kato smears, only 160 (57.1%) were positive. There was a highly positive correlation between the intensity of infection as graded by the 2 techniques. We recommend examination of 6 rectal biopsies using fibre-optic sigmoidoscopy when available in small communities with a patchy distribution of schistosomiasis like Saudi Arabia. The method could also be used to exclude schistosomiasis in persons who have moved from rural to urban or non-endemic areas and are unlikely to be re-exposed to infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Abdel-Hafez
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Bolbol
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy / Q000379:methods; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology*; D005260:Female; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010270:Parasite Egg Count; D012007:Rectum / Q000469:parasitology; D012550:Schistosoma mansoni / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012555:Schistosomiasis mansoni / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012812:Sigmoidoscopy / Q000379:methods