High prevalence and morbidity of Schistosoma mansoni along the Albert Nile in Uganda.

An epidemiological cross sectional study of Schistosoma mansoni was conducted in two hyper endemic fishing villages of Rhino Camp and Obongi both in West Nile district in northern Uganda in 1991 and 1992. People with various water contacts were registered. A small group of civil servants and clergies with less water contact in the river Nile were studied for control of infection and morbidity. An overall prevalence of 81.5% of the 1367 people studied in both fishing villages of Rhino Camp and Obongi were excreting from 100 to > or = 500 Schistosoma mansoni eggs per gram (epg). 253 18.5% did not have Schistosoma mansoni eggs in their faeces. The influence of socioeconomic factors on infections in the study population was high among poorer illiterates who have frequent water contacts activities with River Nile. The sonomorphological abnormalities of periportal thickening (PT) due to Schistosoma mansoni were performed using ultrasound. 664 patients were found to have various stages of (PT stages 0, I, II and III). A total of 703 (51.4%) patients did not have any periportal thickening (PT 0) in their livers despite the fact that 450 (32.9%) of them had Schistosoma. mansoni eggs in their faeces. The gravities of schistosomiasis in the two villages were similar showing greater morbidity in the younger adults.