ABSTRACT:A study was conducted between August 2001 and July 2002 to investigate the current pattern of prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma haematobium infection at Odau Community in the Niger Delta Area of Nigeria.. Three hundred urine specimens were examined from randomly sampled individuals aged between 0 years and 73 years. More than 50% of the participants were under the age of 20 years, and the population sampled had a male to female ratio of 37:23. Quantitative microscopic counting of Schistosoma haematobium eggs was carried out. Two hundred and fifty participants out of the three hundred examined were positive for the infection, representing an overall estimated prevalence of 83.3%. The infection rate peaked (93.0%) in the 10-14 years age category. A significant negative correlation (r =0.306, P < 0.1) was found between age and intensity of infection. The age and sex pattern of Schistosoma haematobium infection as obtained from the study area showed a typical peak prevalence in early adolescence with males having a higher prevalence rate (84.9%) than females' (80.9%) (χ 2 = P > 0.01). The high rates of prevalence and intensity of Schistosoma haematobium observed in the present study clearly indicated that Odau Community is facing a great health burden especially the children and women who had severe infections. @JASEM

A total of 3,948 urine samples were examined for schristosome infection at Anyu in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, Two thousand and forty eight (51.9%) of the people examined were infected with Schistosomiasis. Highest infection (80.4%) was recorded in the 7-10 years age group and the lowest infection occurred in the 47-50 years of age. All the age groups between 3-47 years that were examined were infected with urinary schistosomiasis. Males were more infected (55.2%) than the females (47.2%). Intensity of infection was also highest in the 4-7 years age category. About 1022 (49.9%) of the positive individuals were excreting less than 100 ova of S. heamatobium per 10cm 3 of urine, while 227 (11.1%) were excreting more than 500 ova per 10cm 3 of urine. Bulinus globosus was the snail vector of S heamatobium in the area. Percentage infection of the snail vector was 5.0%. Snail infection was higher during the dry season, while snail population responded to the quantity of rainfall. Based on these data, it was proposed that interception of S. heamatobuim transmission in the study area would involve mass chemotherapy and focal application of molluscicides in the community ponds during the dry season. @ JASEM