Occurrence of Significant Bacteriuria Among Schistosomiasis Positive Individuals in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia, is a disease caused by blood flukes of the genus Schistosoma. The most impacted countries are those in Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for nearly 90% of the world’s estimated 236.6 million cases. The study was aimed at investigating the occurrence of significant bacteriuria among schistosomiasis positive individuals in Ekiti State, Nigeria.Two hundred and forty-fourindividuals living in riparian areas of Ekiti statewere enlisted for the study. Urine samples were collected from the participants and examined microscopically for presence of Schistosoma eggs, followed by urinalysis and bacteriological investigations. Schistosoma eggs were detected in 35 (14.34%) of the 244 urine samples, while significant bacteriuria was recorded in 16 (6.56%) of the samples. Out of the 16 significant-bacteriuria positive samples only 3 (18.75%) were observed to have Schistosoma eggs; while significant-bacteriuria was recorded in 3 (8.57%) of the 35 schistosomiasis positive individuals. The bacteriuria was found to be significantly associated with proteinuria (χ2=25.055; p<0.001) and leukocyturia (χ2=16.011; p<0.001). The bacteria isolated were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Vibrio mirabilis, Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium xerosis, Bacillus cereus, Kurthia gibsoni, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus saprophyticus, among others. The Gram-negative bacterial isolates were highly susceptible to Gentamycin (100%), Tetracycline (85.7%) and Chloramphenicol (78.6%); while the Gram-positive bacterial isolates gave high susceptibility to Gentamycin (84.8%) and Ciprofloxacin (76.1%). Most of the bacteria isolated in this study have been reported to be associated urinary tract infection, except Kurthia gibsoni which has been found to spread from animal to a human by zoophilic sexual intercourse. A case of Schistosomiasis with positive proteinuria and leukocyturia should be taken as UTI and treated accordingly.