Urinary schistosomiasis on Pemba Island: low-cost diagnosis for control in a primary health care setting.
In the 1970s and early 1980s indirect diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis, using urinalysis reagent strips for proteinuria and haematuria, was proposed as a possible alternative to the more accurate but very time-consuming parasitological methods. The recent experience o f the Schistosomiasis Control Programme for Pemba Island, which used a combination of (1) observations o f grossly bloody urine specimens, (2) results from reagent strips for measuring haematuria, and (3) treatment with praziquantel, is the first large-scale example o f a simple, inexpensive and promising alternative for controlling the morbidity caused by this parasite.
Lorenzo Savioli is in charge of the Schistosomiasis Control Programme, PO Box 122, Chake Chake, Pemba Island, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
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