Evaluation of urinalysis reagent strips versus microscopical examination of urine for Schistosoma haematobium.

This study deals with the effectivecess of chemical reagent strips for detection of haematuria and proteinuria in selecting S. haematobium egg positive subjects as compared to microscopical examination of urine. Out of 222 students from primary and secondary rural schools, 191 were S. haematobium and 59 were parasitologically negative. 135 students had a count of less than 50 eggs/10 ml. urine and 56 had more than 50 eggs/10ml. The sensitivity of reagent strips in detecting haematuria was 10% and 36% for the groups with less than and more than 50 eggs/10 ml. of urine respectively. The correspondant microscope figures were 42% and 93% respectively. Proteinuria was detected in 11% and 29% of urines from the groups with less than and more than 50 eggs/10 ml. respectively. The specificity of strips and microscopical examination in detection of haematuria was 100%, while that for proteinuria was 97% as detected by strips. These results show that urinalysis strips cannot be used as an alternative to microscopic examination of urine for the presence of S. haematobium eggs.