Schistosomiasis - causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment

Schistosomiasis - Helminth disease caused by blood flukes, schistosomes; proceeding with toxic and allergic reactions, gastrointestinal lesions and urinary organs. Acute period of schistosomiasis is characterized by fever, papular rash and itching of the skin; in the chronic phase may develop cystitis, pyelonephritis, hydronephrosis, coleitis, prostatitis, epididymitis, or colitis, hepatosplenomegaly, ascites. Schistosomiasis is diagnosed through the detection of helminth eggs in the urine or stool samples, carrying out cystoscopy, urography. For the treatment of schistosomiasis used worming agent; Surgical treatment is indicated.

  • Reasons schistosomiasis
  • Symptoms of schistosomiasis
  • Diagnosis of schistosomiasis
  • Treatment and prevention of schistosomiasis
  • Schistosomiasis - treatment

  • Schistosomiasis


    Helminthiases widespread in Asia, Africa and Latin America. According to WHO statistics, schistosomiasis affects 300 million people.; annually from this disease and its complications, kills 500 thousand. residents of endemic countries. Men infected with schistosomiasis is 5 times more often than women. Chronic schistosomiasis leads to disability of the working population, and causes anemia in children, slow physical and mental development. Due to the nature of the disease, the study of schistosomiasis, in addition to communicable diseases, is engaged in urology and gastroenterology.

    bladder cancer. Intestinal schistosomiasis is accompanied by schistosomes colitis with the outcome of sclerosis of the bowel wall; schistosomes may develop appendicitis.

    urticaria, local swelling of the skin. There may be cough, hemoptysis, hepatosplenomegaly, lymphadenopathy. General toxic symptoms include fever, chills, sweating, pain in muscles and joints, headache.

    A few months after the invasion of schistosomiasis becomes chronic, which may have a mild, moderate and severe. In mild form of schistosomiasis health is not broken, it remains in operation, dizuricheskie disorders insignificant. Schistosomiasis medium gravity flows with clearly marked dysuria, terminal (sometimes total) hematuria, enlarged liver and spleen, anemia development. Severe schistosomiasis is accompanied by frequent exacerbations of cystitis, pyelonephritis, formation of stones in the ureters and bladder. Perhaps the development of vaginitis, vaginal bleeding in women, prostatitis and epididymitis in men. Late complications of schistosomiasis are infertility, ureteral stricture, hydronephrosis, liver cirrhosis, chronic renal failure. Severe infestations result in the loss of ability to work and patients may end lethally.

    The early phase of intestinal schistosomiasis occurs with the same clinical signs as his urogenital form (fever, malaise, arthralgias and myalgias, and so on. D.). Characterized by poor appetite, abdominal pain aching or cramping in nature, tenesmus, diarrhea mixed with blood, alternating constipation. In the late stage of developing liver enlargement, portal hypertension, ascites, gastrointestinal bleeding, pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary heart. Clinic Japanese schistosomiasis resembles intestinal form (allergies, colitis, hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver), but the symptoms are significant.

    urologists and gastroenterologists. Alertness professionals should cause the fact of the patient's stay in an endemic outbreak, the combination of toxic and allergic symptoms with dysuria, hematuria, colitis.

    The decisive role in the diagnosis of schistosomiasis belongs detection of schistosome eggs in the investigation of urine and feces. Standard methods for the detection of urinary schistosomiasis are settling techniques, centrifugation or filtration of urine; gastrointestinal - methods of Kato, Ritchie deposition. The general analysis of urine revealed hematuria, proteinuria, leucocyturia. Informative holding cystoscopy, in which can be detected schistosomes granulomas and ulcers, polypoid growths, clusters of eggs of Schistosoma, and a biopsy of a diseased portion of the bladder. Review and excretory urography allows to see the centers of calcification in the wall of the bladder or ureter, kidney stones, ureteral stricture, hydronephrosis transformation kidneys and so on. When intestinal schistosomiasis can additionally performed a laparoscopy, liver biopsy.

    For preliminary diagnosis of schistosomiasis used immunological tests - RSK, IHA, IFA. When mass screening of the population in endemic areas intradermal allergy tests are carried out with schistosomes antigen. Urinary schistosomiasis requires differentiation with urolithiasis, tuberculosis of the bladder; intestinal schistosomiasis - with amebiasis, typhoid fever, dysentery, cancer of the colon.

    operations in the ureters (the development of a stricture), removal of stones from the bladder and kidneys.

    With timely appointment of a specific therapy of uncomplicated schistosomiasis favorable prognosis. Prolonged chronic helminthiasis can lead to disability and death of the patient developed complications. The complex of measures for the prevention of schistosomiasis involves treating water bodies to destroy gastropods, active health education, early detection and treatment of patients. The population of endemic foci is recommended to boil or filter water for drinking and household needs, use protective clothing (rubber gloves and boots) when in contact with water.