Prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium Infection among School-Age Children in Afar Area, Northeastern Ethiopia

Abraham Degarege; Zeleke Mekonnen; Bruno Levecke; Mengistu Legesse; Yohannes Negash; Jozef Vercruysse; Berhanu Erko

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0133142

Prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium Infection among School-Age Children in Afar Area, Northeastern Ethiopia

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 7;10(8):e0133142. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133142. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Abraham Degarege¹, Zeleke Mekonnen², Bruno Levecke³, Mengistu Legesse⁴, Yohannes Negash⁴, Jozef Vercruysse³, Berhanu Erko⁴

Affiliations

¹ Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Department of Epidemiology, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, United States of America.
² Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences and Pathology, College of Public Health and Medical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
³ Department of Virology, Parasitology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
⁴ Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Abstract

In this study, the prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection was determined among school-age children living in the Middle and Lower Awash Valley, Afar Regional State of Ethiopia. Between February and May 2014, urine samples were collected from 885 school-age children (5-16 years of age) from the Middle (n = 632; 4 villages) and Lower (n = 253; 3 villages) Awash Valley. All samples were processed using urine filtration to detect and quantify S. haematobium eggs. In addition, a subset of the urine samples was tested for hematuria using a urine dipstick (n = 556). The overall prevalence was 20.8% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 18.1%, 23.5%), based on urine filtration but the prevalence considerably varied across villages both in the Middle (from 12.5% to 37.0%) and Lower Awash Valley (from 0 to 5.3%). The overall mean urine egg count (UEC) among the infected children was 4.0 eggs/10 ml of urine (95% CI = 2.43, 5.52). The infection intensity varied from 0.4 eggs/10 ml of urine to 7.7 eggs/10 ml of urine in the Middle Awash Valley, and from 0 to 1.1 eggs/10 ml of urine in Lower Awash Valley. Age and sex were not associated with S. haematobium infection based on the multivariable logistic regression model. The prevalence of hematuria was 56.3% (95% CI = 52.2%, 60.4%) among a subset of the study participants (556) examined using the urine dipstick. The prevalence of hematuria also varies with villages from 8.3% to 93.2%. In conclusion, the prevalence of S. haematobium infection in the Middle Awash Valley was high and it varies across villages. Hence, children living in the present study villages of the Middle Awash Valley need to be treated with praziquantel to reduce morbidity and disrupt transmission.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Animals
Child
Child, Preschool
Ethiopia / epidemiology
Filtration
Geography
Humans
Prevalence
Schistosoma haematobium / physiology*
Schistosomiasis haematobia / diagnosis
Schistosomiasis haematobia / epidemiology*
Schistosomiasis haematobia / parasitology*
Schistosomiasis haematobia / urine
Schools*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa. University(www.aau.edu.et/aaubeta/alipb/). AD, ML and BE received the fund from Addis Ababa University. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.