Schistosoma mansoni infection and cognitive functions of primary school children, in Kafr El Sheikh, Egypt.

There is growing concern that parasitic infection may detrimentally affect children's mental function. In this study our main objective was to investigate the effects of schistosoma mansoni infection on cognitive functions of school children aged 9-12 years in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate. Out of 2601 children screened parasitologically, 60.7% were S. mansoni positive. Children recruited for the case-control study were 40 with light S. mansoni infection (<100 epg), 40 with heavy infection (>400 epg) and 40 parasite-free served as control. All children were subjected to the Arabic Version of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) and the Verbal Fluency Test. Though, the general IQ scores of infected children were insignificantly lower than their controls, yet they recorded a significantly lower performance IQ as well as, poorer performance on comprehension, vocabulary and picture completion subtests. Implications for preventive measures will be discussed.