title: Urogenital schistosomiasis in women of reproductive age in Tanzania's Lake Victoria region.
abstract: We conducted a community-based study of 457 women aged 18-50 years living in eight rural villages in northwest Tanzania. The prevalence of female urogenital schistosomiasis (FUS) was 5% overall but ranged from 0% to 11%. FUS was associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (odds ratio [OR] = 4.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2-13.5) and younger age (OR = 5.5 and 95% CI = 1.2-26.3 for ages < 25 years and OR = 8.2 and 95% CI = 1.7-38.4 for ages 25-29 years compared with age > 35 years). Overall HIV prevalence was 5.9% but was 17% among women with FUS. We observed significant geographical clustering of schistosomiasis: northern villages near Lake Victoria had more Schistosoma mansoni infections (P < 0.0001), and southern villages farther from the lake had more S. haematobium (P = 0.002). Our data support the postulate that FUS may be a risk factor for HIV infection and may contribute to the extremely high rates of HIV among young women in sub-Saharan Africa.
authors.affiliation: Center for Global Health, Weill-Cornell Medical College, 440 East 69th Street, New York, NY 10065, USA. jna2002@med.cornell.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Downs
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mguta
authors.forename: Godfrey M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Kaatano
authors.forename: Katrina B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Heejung
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bang
authors.forename: Harusha
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Simplice
authors.forename: Samuel E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Kalluvya
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Changalucha
authors.forename: Warren D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Daniel W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D012553:Schistosomiasis haematobia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult