[Epidemiologic study of S. haematobium bilharziasis in the rice belt of Yagoua (North Cameroon). I. Prevalence of infestation and evaluation of the parasitic load].

The epidemiological study of urinary bilharziasis concerns family surveys done in four villages, three of them been located in the rice fields and the other one outside these fields: 990 urine examinations are performed by filtration as well as 966 immunological tests, using an hemagglutination technique and the heterologous antigen S. mansoni. The prevalence of bilharziasis varies from a village to the next, as well as the parasitic load, measured by means of number of eggs per 10 ml urine, in relation with the distance separating the village from the artificial water network built by the rice company. In Dabaye 62.4 % of the examined inhabitants are voiding eggs of S. haematobium, in Toukou 56.9 %, in Vele 31.6% and in Zebe 20.1%. In Toukou and Dabaye all teenagers examined were passing eggs in their urine.