Research Articles

Urine circulating soluble egg antigen in relation to egg counts, hematuria, and urinary tract pathology before and after treatment in children infected with Schistosoma haematobium in Kenya

A cohort of 117 school children infected with Schistosoma haematobium was followed-up after therapy with praziquantel (0, 2, 4, 6, 12, and 18 months) and various infection and morbidity parameters (egg counts, hematuria, soluble egg antigen [SEA] in urine, and ultrasonography-detectable pathology) were quantified. At the onset of the study, 97% of the children were positive for S. haematobium with a geometric mean egg count of 45.7 eggs/10 ml of urine. Eighty-one percent of the children were positive for SEA in urine with a geometric mean SEA concentration of 218.8 ng/ml of urine. Ninety-two percent and 56% of the children were microhematuria positive and macrohematuria positive, respectively. Two months after treatment, all infection and morbidity indicators had significantly decreased. Reinfection after treatment as determined by detection of eggs in urine was observed by four months post-treatment while the other parameters remained low. The clearance of SEA was slower than that of egg counts while pathology resolved at an even slower pace. Levels of SEA and egg output showed similar correlations with ultrasound detectable pathology; these correlations were better than the correlation between hematuria and pathology.

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