[Epidemiology of schistosomiasis in a suburban school area of Bamako (Republic of Mali)].

Epidemiology of schistosomiasis has been assessed in October, 1990 in three primary schools of a suburban district of Bamako: Magnambougou. It was a cross sectional study which was carried out on an hazardous sample of 549 pupils of 7 to 14 years old. The Kato-Katz and urine filtration methods were used to search schistosome eggs. The prevalence rate was 50% (256/512) in Schistosoma haematobium and 5.6% (26/464) in S. mansoni. Children from 11-14 years old were more infected by Schistosoma haematobium (59.4%), than those from 7-10 years old (35.2%) (p < 0.005). Among these children, 26.2% excreted more than 100 eggs per 10 ml of urine. The infection did not varied significantly no matter what the sex is (53.7 and 44.8% respectively in boys and girls) (p = 0.05). According to the residence, pupils living in Magnambougou were more infected (54.9%) than those of others district (31.1%) (p < 0.001). Likewise, S. haematobium infection was more important in A and C schools (64.9 and 73.2% respectively) than in B school (11.2%) (p < 0.001). Two major snails species which are the intermediate hosts of urine schistosomiasis in Mali (Bulinus truncatus and Bulinus globosus) were found in the shelters: however, B. truncatus was only infected in 13.1% (19/145). Contamination was local and "ruralization" activities (particularly gardening) seemed to be the most important displaying factor.