Severity of clinical manifestations of bilharziasis and egg output among children aged 4-5 years in the Egypt-49 project area.
This paper describes a simple schedule which can be used to provide a numerical measure of the severity of infection with S. haematobium, S. mansoni or both, and compares the results obtained by use of this schedule and by use of egg counts. A check list gives a number of clinical signs and symptoms, some of which may be graded according to severity. A "severity factor" is assigned to each sign and symptom, such that the maximum possible score obtainable by summing the individual severity factors is 100. The disease is classified, on the basis of the total score, as asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe or very severe. This method of grading has been tested on a group of 239 Egyptian children aged 4-5 years for whom egg counts were already available. The results are not conclusive, owing to the relatively small size of the sample studied, but they would seem to indicate that the method of clinical grading used will have to undergo considerable modification before it is suitable for practical use.
D002675:Child, Preschool; D004534:Egypt; D006801:Humans; D012552:Schistosomiasis / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology