[Efficacy of routinely used patterns for schistosomiasis diagnosis in lake and marshland regions].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy of routinely used pattern for schistosomiasis diagnosis in lake and marshland regions.

METHODS

A historically heavy endemic village of schistosomiasis named Jinggan Village from Jiangling County was selected for field survey. The residents aged 6-65 years were screened by indirect hemagglutination assay (IHA) and dipstick dye immunoassay (DDIA) in parallel. The serological positives were examined by Kato-Katz technique and miracidium hatching technique to determine the infection of schistosome. The consistency of the two serological methods was evaluated. In addition, the schistosome infection rates were estimated accordingto the 3 detection patterns namely IHA, DDIA, IHA+DDIA combined with the etiologic examination.

RESULTS

A total of 530 individuals were examined by the serological tests. The positive rate of DDIA was 46.98% (249/530), significantly higher than that of IHA (28.49%, 151/530) (χ2 = 59.55, P < 0.01). Totally 279 individuals were serological positives determined by IHA or DDIA, while 252 of them were detected by stool examination, and 22 cases were determined as parasitological positives, while 7 and 3 cases were diagnosed as antibody negatives by IHA and DDIA, respectively. The estimated infection rates determined by IHA, DDIA, IHA plus DDIA combined with stool examination were 3.14%, 3.97%, 4.60%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Under the condition of endemic situation becoming more and more waning, the current routinely used pattern for schistosomiasis detection may lead to missed diagnosis. So, more sensitive and effective diagnostic tools or appropriate detection patterns need to be explored.