[Course of urinary schistosomiasis over 3 consecutive years after treatment with metrifonate in a dry savanna village in Upper Volta].

In a dry savanna village in Upper-Volta, after mass treatment with metrifonate (four doses of 7,5 mg/kg at three weeks intervals) checking of the population was carried out for the three following years. In children and adolescents, results show a progressive decline in the cure rate (69.0% one year after treatment, 38.1% three years after treatment) and in egg-output reduction (69.9% one year after treatment, 75.4% three years after treatment). In adults, these two parameters still remain high three years after treatment (90.0% for cure rate and 87.3% for egg-output reduction). The authors point out that in a dry savanna village with a sedentary population and a transmission limited to a small collection of water, chemotherapy even employed alone is an appreciable control method to relieve populations.