Sex-dependent interactions between leptin, wasting and humoral immunity in two ethnic communities of school-aged children differentially exposed to Schistosoma haematobium.

Background: Leptin is a nutritional hormone whose production is generally higher in females. We investigated how leptin is associated with sex dimorphism during urinary schistosomiasis in relation with wasting. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in three villages in northern Senegal. Ninety-eight school-aged children belonging to the Fulani or Wolof villages were enrolled. We performed parasitic diagnosis and anthropometric measurement to evaluate nutritional status. We collected peripheral blood to determine the amount of circulating leptin and immunoglobulin G (IgG), IgG4 and IgE directed to soluble worm antigen preparation (SWAP). Results: The prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium infection was higher among boys regardless of ethnic group, but exposure to parasites did not exacerbate malnutrition. The greater ability of girls to produce leptin was not altered by schistosomiasis and was recovered in both ethnic groups. However, while the usual correlation between leptin and fat storage was preserved in Fulani girls, it was disrupted in Fulani boys, who displayed a remarkable susceptibility for wasting. Finally, we observed that leptin was negatively associated with the level of antibodies in Wolof boys. Conclusions: Leptin can be disconnected from body fat and may exert a sex-dependent influence on host immune response to S. haematobium infection in Senegalese children.

Urinary Schistosomiasis in an Adolescent Refugee from Africa: An Uncommon Cause of Hematuria and an Emerging Infectious Disease in Europe.

We report a case of urinary schistosomiasis in an adolescent refugee from Gambia (arrived to Italy illegally), who was brought to the Emergency Department of our hospital. The patient complained of gross hematuria and, in the absence of clinical evidence of bacterial urinary infection, was admitted to the pediatric ward, considering his provenience and social setting. An appropriate collection and microscopic analysis of urine samples led to the detection of bilharzia. Much attention should be paid to this emerging disease in Europe by physicians in order to recognize and treat it timely, which could prevent future and higher costs for public health systems and could reduce the potential risk of environmental spreading. In fact, there are some areas in Italy where the parasite can find its intermediate host to complete its lifecycle.

Acute schistosomiasis in European students returning from fieldwork at Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Schistosomiasis is common in many African regions and poses a risk for travelers and the local population. So far, schistosomiasis in travelers or expatriates returning from the Tanzanian bank of Lake Tanganyika has not been reported. METHODS: We report a group of students who sought treatment with signs of acute schistosomiasis after having returned from Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. Information as to travel and exposure as well as clinical and laboratory data were collected. RESULTS: Schistosomiasis was diagnosed in 8 of 16 students from Berlin, Germany, who had returned from a 2- to 3-month stay of fieldwork in Kigoma District at Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania. All 16 students reported frequent freshwater exposure at the lake. Six patients showed signs of acute schistosomiasis and had fever, and some of them also had cough, weakness, headache, or abdominal pain. Eosinophilia was present in five of the six symptomatic individuals. Notably, two serologically enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-positive individuals did not report or present with symptoms or abnormal laboratory parameters. Schistosoma mansoni eggs were found in one symptomatic and one asymptomatic individual each. Blood and stool samples from the other eight individuals who were equally exposed to freshwater yielded negative results. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of an outbreak of acute schistosomiasis imported from the Tanzanian shore of Lake Tanganyika and highlights the risk for travelers and the local population of acquiring the infection in that part of Tanzania. It provides arguments for routine serological screening for schistosomiasis in individuals who had prior freshwater contact in endemic areas, irrespective of symptoms or other laboratory findings.

Schistosoma haematobium infection in workers returning from Africa to China.

Schistosoma haematobium infection is mainly associated with urinary schistosomiasis. Here, we describe two cases of S haematobium infection in workers returning to China from Tanzania and Angola. They had hematuria and were misdiagnosed as having tuberculosis or tumor of the bladder. The diagnosis was established by discovery of eggs in the urine.

Urinary schistosomiasis in asylum seekers in Italy: an emergency currently undervalued.

Despite schistosomiasis is one of the most prevalent tropical diseases in developing countries and and large flows of migrants come from countries where the disease is endemic, imported urinary schistosomiasis is still not easily recognized in non-endemic areas, especially if not subjected to specific investigations. Moreover schistosomiasis is currently not reportable in any European public health system. The data presented in this report were collected were collected between asylum seekers by a simple screening method based on a prior or actual history of a macroscopic hematauria. In case of a history of gross hematuria, the patient underwent to specific exams standardized for the diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis. Our data show that the prevalence of the disease has been largely underestimated by European Surveillance Systems; in fact in a small population of young asylum seekers coming from endemic areas for schistosomiasis, we found a significant number of individuals with symptomatic disease. Given that the disease typically has an insidious course, it is highly probable that a screening procedure is able to identify early asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic subjects and avoid the serious complications that are present in advanced stages of disease. Given the limits and the costs of a late diagnosis and that an effective treatment is available, subjects from endemic areas should be actively screened for urinary schistosomiasis.

[Radiological findings in patients with imported schistosomiasis]. / Hallazgos radiológicos en pacientes con esquistosomiasis importada.

INTRODUCTION: Imaging techniques, primarily ultrasound, are useful in the diagnosis and monitoring of patients with schistosomiasis in endemic areas. METHODS: Study of 219 patients treated in sub-Saharan Tropical Medicine Unit with a diagnosis of imported schistosomiasis by imaging techniques investigations including plain abdominal radiography and ultrasound. RESULTS: A total of 17.8% of patients who had an abdominal X-ray showed findings suggestive of schistosomiasis, in most cases bladder calcifications. In 73 patients (41%) ultrasound showed pathological findings, mainly diffuse or focal wall thickening (26 patients), nodular lesions (n=14), and pseudopolyps (n=8). One patient, who had a large bladder mass (9cm) and bilateral ureterohydronephrosis, was finally diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder. Ultrasound liver abnormalities were found in 10 patients, 4 with signs of portal hypertension, of which 3 had the characteristic periportal fibrosis in schistosomiasis. CONCLUSION: Imaging studies, especially abdominal and bladder ultrasound, are useful for diagnosis, the study of disease and monitoring of patients with schistosomiasis in non-endemic countries.

[Diagnosis and treatment of bladder schistosomiasis from penitentiary primary care: case report]. / Diagnóstico y tratamiento de la esquistosomiasis vesical desde la atención primaria penitenciaria: a propósito de un caso.

We describe a case of a patient from Senegal with voiding symptoms and microscopic hematuria diagnosed and treated for bladder schistosomiasis in the medical services of the Youth Prison in Barcelona. According to our information in the Medline database no bladder schistosomiasis cases have been seen in primary care outside endemic areas. Patients can be diagnosed and treated before referral to specialized care for further study of possible complications.

Evaluation of the role of angiogenic factors in the pathogenesis of schistosomiasis.

Schistosomiasis is one disease produced by helminths, which affect many people in tropical areas. Granuloma formation is the main mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of this disease. Experimental studies have demonstrated angiogenesis (blood vessels formation from pre-existing vessels) in the initial phase of granuloma formation. In the present work, VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) levels were analyzed in sera from people diagnosed with different helminthic infections. Patients with schistosomiasis and filariasis had significantly high VEGF levels in compared with healthy people and patients diagnosed with hookworms. In addition, the effects of angiogenesis inhibition using anti-angiogenic factors (endostatin) were evaluated in a schistosomiasis murine model. A lesion decrease was observed in mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni and treated with endostatin. Finally, mechanisms of angiogenesis induction were studied and observed that cercariae antigens stimulated the angiogenic factors by host alveolar macrophages.

Semen quality in Schistosoma haematobium infected men in Madagascar.

The seminal vesicles and the prostate are frequently affected by egg-induced inflammation in Schistosoma haematobium infected men. The objective of this study was to assess the semen quality in men with male genital schistosomiasis (MGS). The examination of the semen samples was performed in men aged 15 to 49 years living an S. haematobium endemic area in Madagascar prior to anti-schistosoma treatment with praziquantel and five months later. Men from the high endemic Sirama sugarcane plantation with positive egg excretion in the urine and circulating anodic antigen (CAA) present in serum (n=85) were compared to men (without egg excretion and no CAA) from the neighbouring low-endemic Mataipako village (n=57). The proportion of men with egg excretion in semen was significantly higher in Sirama than in Mataipako (53% versus 4%), whereas the median ejaculate volume was significantly lower in Sirama (1.8 ml versus 2.4 ml). There was no statistical difference in median spermatocyte counts and in the proportions of men detected with azoospermia. The mean apoptotic rate was 7.8% in a subgroup of 30 men from Sirama. A positive correlation was found between apoptotic rate and seminal eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) level (rho=0.560; P<0.001). At follow up, egg excretion and ECP level in semen declined significantly and were paralleled by a significant reduction in the apoptotic rate. The study suggests that S. haematobium infection is associated with sperm apoptosis and a reduced production of seminal fluid. Egg induced inflammation in the seminal vesicles and the prostate could be underlying mechanism for both observations.

[Schistosoma haematobium infection in a Ghanaian patient residing for a period in Turkey]. / Bir Süredir Türkiye'de Yasayan Ganali Bir Hastada Schistosoma haematobium Enfeksiyonu.

Schistosoma haematobium is one of the important causes of haematuria in some parts of the world. We present a 16-year-old Ghanaian male who applied to our hospital with haematuria. Schistosoma haematobium eggs were found in his urine sediment. The epidemiological and clinical significance of S. haematobium has been discussed in detail because S. haematobium cases are rarely seen and are generally imported in Turkey.

Schistosoma haematobium infection in children in Britain.

OBJECTIVE: To highlight the existence of Schistosoma haematobium in certain ethnic minority groups in Britain and in English citizens who have recently visited Africa and the Middle East, so that general practitioners and paediatric nephrologists/urologists are aware of its occurrence and consider it among the differential diagnoses in children presenting with haematuria. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Over a 2-year period, six consecutive boys (mean age 13.5 years, range 8-15) presented with haematuria and were subsequently diagnosed to be infected with S. haematobium. All patients were from Africa and had recently visited their native country. There had all reported paddling in freshwater lakes and streams. RESULTS: Dysuria and haematuria was noted 2-3 months after the infection. Terminal urine samples taken after exercise at midday were positive for S. haematobium ova. Praziquantel anti-schistosomal chemotherapy was effective in treating the infection. CONCLUSION: S. haematobium infection is treatable in the early stages and the changes are reversible before the development of fibrotic lesions, which may result in anatomical obstruction. A terminal urine sample taken at midday after exercise was diagnostic in showing Schistosoma ova in all cases. This infection must be considered in the differential diagnoses of haematuria in some ethnic minority British citizens and in those Britons who have visited Africa or the Middle East in the recent past.

[Bilharziasis and bladder cancer. A case report]. / Bilharziasis y cáncer vesical. Aportación de un caso.

In our setting, the association between bilharziasis and bladder cancer is uncommon. However, the presence of recurrent haematuria in a patient from an endemic area of bilharziasis (east of Africa and Middle East), is highly suspicious of this disease. Lack of an adequate treatment by using anthelminthic drugs during the acute phase of disease, might lead to the onset of chronic bladder lesions and, on occasion, bladder cancer, of the epidermoid type in the majority of cases. Because of the high mortality and aggressivity of this type of cancer, an early diagnosis and appropriate treatment of acute lesions is mandatory. We report a 40-year-old black male from Senegal, presenting chronic bladder schistosomiasis and infiltrative epidermoid carcinoma of the bladder, diagnosed and treated in our department by palliative cystectomy.

New sites of Bulinus truncatus and indigenous cases of urinary schistosomiasis in Jordan.

Thirty-two autochthonous cases of Schistosoma haematobium are reported from Ghore As-Safi, Karak Lowlands, Jordan. All infected persons were males (9-46 years-old). New unusual breeding sites for Bulinus truncatus are discovered. The past and current distribution of the snail intermediate host is given.

Bladder cancer in various population groups in the greater Durban area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

OBJECTIVE: To study the incidence of different histological types of bladder cancer in various racial groups living within the same geographical region. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included 615 new patients with bladder cancer seen at three Provincial hospitals in Durban from January 1980 to January 1990. The patients were classified as Caucasian (white people of European descent). African (indigenous black people), Asian (people originating from the Indian subcontinent) or Coloured (people of mixed race). The bladder tumours were classified according to standard histopathological criteria as transitional cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma or sarcoma. Mixed tumours consisted of both carcinomatous and sarcomatous or undifferentiated elements. RESULTS: Transitional cell carcinoma constituted 95% of the cancers in Caucasians, compared with only 30% in Africans, whereas squamous cell carcinoma occurred in 53% of the African patients, but in only 2% of the Caucasians. In Asian patients, 75% of the tumours were transitional cell and 18% were squamous cell carcinoma, whereas in Coloureds 82% were transitional cell and 9% squamous cell carcinoma. Undifferentiated carcinoma occurred in 8% of African and only 1% of Caucasian patients, whereas adenocarcinoma, mixed tumours and sarcoma occurred in 9% of African patients and only 2% of Caucasian patients. Ova of Schistosoma haematobium were seen in microscopic sections of the bladder tumour in 85% of the patients with squamous cell carcinoma, in 50% of those with undifferentiated tumours and adenocarcinoma, in 17% of those with mixed tumours or sarcoma, and in only 10% of the patients with transitional cell carcinoma. At presentation, African patients were a mean of > 20 years younger than Caucasians. In African patients with squamous cell carcinoma, 90% had stage T3 or T4 disease at presentation, whereas in Caucasian patients with transitional cell carcinoma 76% had stage T1 or T2 disease at presentation. From the study group, it appears that bladder cancer is about six times more common in Caucasians than in Africans. However, the value for Caucasian patients with bladder cancer probably underestimates the true value by about five times, so that bladder cancer in the greater Durban area may be as much as 30 times more common in Caucasians than in Africans. CONCLUSION: In African patients, endemic Schistosomiasis appears to be related to a high incidence of not only squamous cell carcinoma, but also undifferentiated tumours and adenocarcinoma of the bladder. The effective management of squamous cell carcinoma of the bladder in African patients will depend on the eradication of Schistosomiasis and the early detection of bladder cancer at a stage when it may still be cured by radical treatment.