Comparative study of three Schistosoma haematobium foci in Burkina Faso.

The comparative study of the three most common schistosomiasis foci in Burkinabe villages shows a great disparity both in parasitological and malacological results. Parasitological investigations by reagent strips and urine filtration conducted on school children indicated respective prevalence rates of 85% at Thion, 37.5% at Donsin and 10.5% at Djerma. Malacological prospections found two species (Bulinus senegalensis and Bulinus truncatus) of intermediate hosts of schistosomiasis in the water biatopes in Thion and Donsin, and only one species (B globosus) at Djerma. We speculate that this situation could be related to initial levels of endemicity, to the distance between living quarters and sites of transmission, to sociological practices as welle as to the mollusc vector species. Given the large distribution of these foci throughout the country the Burkinabe medical authorities should recognise their importance with regard to the disease on a public health level and support the current orientation of the national schistosomiasis control programme which is coordinated around district health services.