A retrospective study of nine years' hospital records of schistosomiasis in north-eastern Nigeria

Abstract

We have studied reports of new cases at 11 State Government Hospitals in the state of Borno, over a period of 9 years from 1976 to 1984. Urinary schistosomiasis was the second most common communicable disease, while intestinal schistosomiasis ranked sixth. The rise in prevalence of schistosomiasis since 1979 probably reflects increased public awareness of the beneficial role of hospitals. The decline in the number of cases seeking treatment in 1982 and 1983 may be due to the decline in rainfall and thus of agricultural and fishing activities involving contaminated irrigation ponds.

Schistosomiasis of the appendix in Maiduguri

“…1 Surgeons practising in endemic areas like ours need to be aware of the possibility of schistomiasis as the cause of appendicitis, whereas those in non-endemic areas need to be aware of atypical presentations of parasitic diseases in immigrant patients from tropical regions. 7,8 Granulomatous appendicitis is not uncommon, as some previous reports seem to suggest. Schistomiasis of the appendix must therefore be considered in patients with acute appendicitis or recurrent chronic abdominal pains.…”