SCI staff visit

Dr Russell Stothard and Dr Lynsey Blair visited the West Nile region of Uganda to assist the Vector Control Division, Kampala in data collection which was a follow up 12 month after first treatment.

Dr Russell Stothard (Field Programme Coordinator) and Dr Lynsey Blair (Programme Assistant) visited the West Nile region of Uganda to assist the Vector Control Division, Kampala in data collection which was a follow up 12 month after first treatment. Over a period of four weeks in the field the VCD-SCI team visited a total of 17 schools and three adult communities. Some 2000 children and 400 adults were examined for prevalence and intensity of infection, plus schistosome-related morbidity, inclusive of the use of portable ultrasonography.

Following the first annual mass schistosomiasis and deworming treatment, the principal aim of this survey was to monitor changes in health of the same cohort of children, grouped by age. Across the 17 schools the compliance was most satisfactory, and about 70% of the original cohort were available for re-examination. Also pleasing was that most of these children still possessed their SCI treatment card which they were given the previous year as an important component within the Information Education Communication (IEC) strategy used in Uganda.

Parasitologically, the survey showed that faecal egg counts of S. mansoni and hookworm were much lower than 12 months earlier. This was as a result of their single praziquantel treatment, and (in most cases) two albendazole treatments because nearly all the children had been given albendazole in conjunction with their measles vaccination in October 2003. After detailed statistical analyses of these recently collected data, we hope to demonstrate a reduction in schistosome-related morbidity e.g. anaemia, and an improvement in general health. These data will also be used to define an optimal sampling framework to monitor such changes in other SCI countries.

Image: Children with the SCI treatment cards given to them one year ago