Epidemiology of Urinary Schistosomosis in Zalengi, West Darfur State

Abstract

The present study was conducted to figure out the epidemio- logical picture of urinary schistosomosis in Zalengi,West Darfur State. The first part of the study concerned with investigation of the awareness of citizens in the study area with the disease .The results indicated that urinary schistosomosis is quite known by inhabitants and factors like contact with water, lack of latrines and socioeconomic status play an important role in the trans- mission of the disease. In the resent study , out of 2101 persons examined for the presence of urinary schistosomosis,225 were found infected with an overall prevalence of 10.2%.The infection rate within males was 12.9% while infection rate within females was only 7.5%. The infection rate did vary between different age groups and school-children (5-15years) represent the most groups at risk when compared to with other citizen in the study area. The intensity of infection is generally low as 27.7% of males and 9.1% of females had a load of infection equal to 11-15 egg/10 ml of their urines. Schitosoma haematobium was only parasite identified during this study. In the present study , the 12 months malacological survey conducted from December1999 to November,2000 indicated the prevailing of four snail species i.e Bulinus truncatus (98.3%),Gabiella senaariensis (1.86%), Lymnaea natalensis (1.32%) and Lanistes carinatus (0.27%). the suitable period for breeding and survival of snails was recorded between September and March. Factors that affect the life cycle of the snails was also worked out. It was observed that water temperature, water turbidity and aquatic plants available during the mentioned period favored and created the suitable environment for the survival of the snails