Role of Clinical and Parasitological data in Diagnosis of Chronic Urinary Schistosomiasis in comparison with other techniques

The gold standard for diagnosis of schistosomiasis haematobium is a microscopic examination of urine for parasite eggs. However, direct detection of eggs is difficult among people who have chronic infections.The aim of the current study was to detect the role of clinical and parasitological examination in the diagnosis of S.haematobium in comparison with PCR in chronic patients. Materials and methods: This study was conducted on 115 urine samples; 60 samples were collected from patients with cancer bladder, 35 samples from cases of urinary schistosomiasis, and 20 samples from a healthy control. Samples enrolled in the study were subjected to patient socio-demographic history, clinical data, and the collection of histopathological reports (in the case of cancer bladder patients). All urine samples were subjected to parasitological examination for the detection of S. haematobium eggs. Multiplex PCR was used for the detection of DNA fragments of S. haematobium in urine. Results: By multiplex PCR, it was revealed that 5 cases (8.3%) were positive for S. haematobium , while 55 cases (91.7%) were negative. PCR-positive cases were in the age of 44- 67 years. Diagnosis of S. haematobium infection in symptomatic (dysuria &haematuria) suspected bilharziasis patients by using the traditional parasitological examination for detection of eggs in urine revealed absolute diagnostic efficacy (100%). S. haematobium eggs were detected in the examined patients of age group from 15 to over 40 years. Conclusion: Using clinical and direct parasitological methods in association with history taking could be enough for the diagnosis of S. haematobium, especially in aged patients.