OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and applicability of questionnaires to determine schistosomiasis endemic areas in Zimbabwe. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: Makonde District, Zimbabwe. SUBJECTS: Headmasters and children in Grades II to V of the 121 schools in the district. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of completed questionnaires that were returned. Ranking of the most important diseases among the school children. RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were received from 110 (90.9%) schools. Of the 110 headmasters, 55.4% ranked schistosomiasis < or = 4 as one of the priority diseases affecting their children most. In addition, 44.2% gave blood in urine < or = 4 as one of the most frequent symptoms among their school children while 63.6% wanted action to be taken to prevent schistosomiasis and/or blood in urine among the children. A total of 38.3% of the children from 37 schools admitted having suffered from schistosomiasis during the last month while 37.4% of the children from 35 schools claimed to have experienced blood in their urine during the same period of time. The teachers found a prevalence of 46.1% while the research team found that 44.9% children had blood in their urine. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that the questionnaire approach, besides the high diagnostic power, was the cheapest, costing only US$0.08 per child and 18 times cheaper than the filtration technique.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and applicability of questionnaires to determine schistosomiasis endemic areas in Zimbabwe. DESIGN: Cross sectional study. SETTING: Makonde District, Zimbabwe. SUBJECTS: Headmasters and children in Grades II to V of the 121 schools in the district. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of completed questionnaires that were returned. Ranking of the most important diseases among the school children. RESULTS: Completed questionnaires were received from 110 (90.9%) schools. Of the 110 headmasters, 55.4% ranked schistosomiasis < or = 4 as one of the priority diseases affecting their children most. In addition, 44.2% gave blood in urine < or = 4 as one of the most frequent symptoms among their school children while 63.6% wanted action to be taken to prevent schistosomiasis and/or blood in urine among the children. A total of 38.3% of the children from 37 schools admitted having suffered from schistosomiasis during the last month while 37.4% of the children from 35 schools claimed to have experienced blood in their urine during the same period of time. The teachers found a prevalence of 46.1% while the research team found that 44.9% children had blood in their urine. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that the questionnaire approach, besides the high diagnostic power, was the cheapest, costing only US$0.08 per child and 18 times cheaper than the filtration technique.
Authors: Cinthia A Acka; Giovanna Raso; Eliézer K N'goran; Andres B Tschannen; Isaac I Bogoch; Essane Séraphin; Marcel Tanner; Brigit Obrist; Jürg Utzinger Journal: PLoS Negl Trop Dis Date: 2010-12-21
Authors: Rosemary M Musuva; Alphonce Awiti; Martin Omedo; Michael Ogutu; W Evan Secor; Susan P Montgomery; Jane Alaii; Pauline N M Mwinzi Journal: Am J Trop Med Hyg Date: 2014-02-17 Impact factor: 2.345
Authors: Rosemary M Musuva; Gladys O Odhiambo; Vincent O Atuncha; Elizabeth T Mutete; Maurice R Odiere; Bernard Abong'o; Jane Alaii; Pauline Nm Mwinzi Journal: East Afr Health Res J Date: 2019-07-30