Egg viability in urinary schistosomiasis. I. New methods compared with available methods.

A new method of quantifying viability and hatchability of Schistosoma haematobium eggs in urine has been developed. It consists of filtering urine samples through Nytrel filters followed by mercurochrome staining to assist in the detection of viable (motile) miracidia in egg shells, and iodine staining to show hatched miracidia. The new method is compared with two existing techniques for viability/hatchability determination, centrifugation hatching and Nuclepore filtration trypan blue staining. Seventy-three egg positive urine samples are compared; the overall proportions of viable eggs are very close for centrifugation hatching and the new method, but 33% of eggs are lost in centrifugation and 19% of eggs are unclassifiable by Nuclepore filtration trypan blue staining. The main advantages and disadvantages of the new and existing methods are described and discussed; the cheapness, simplicity and ease of performance of the new method make it suitable for large-scale field use. Suggestions for improvements and standardization of the new method are made.