Schistosoma haematobium in rural school children in Nigeria.

A survey of Schistosoma haematobium infection was carried out in 722 rural school children in Emu, Edo State of Nigeria. The ages of the children ranged from 5-19 years with those between the age-group 10-14 years constituting the highest percentage 317 (43.9%). There were more males 383 (53.0%) than females 339 (47.0%) in the study population. Urine analysis of these children showed that 254 (35.2%) of them were excreting Schistosoma haematobium ova and of these 196 (27.2%) had haematuria. The prevalence of the disease was highest in the younger children with 43.1% for haematuria and 55.3% for S. haematobium ova among the age-group 5-9 years. The corresponding figures were 21.4% and 24.7% for age-group 10-14 years and 14.9% and 27.7% for 15-19 years old children. The sex-specific prevalences of haematuria and Schistosoma haematobium ova were higher for females than for the males.