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Usefulness of ultrasound in sub-Saharan patients with a serological diagnosis of schistosomiasis

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Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the usefulness of ultrasound examination in patients with just a serological diagnosis of schistosomiasis but no other evidence of active infection.

Methods

346 sub-Saharan patients with possible schistosomiasis that presented at a Tropical Medicine Unit between 2008 and 2019 were retrospectively selected. Possible schistosomiasis was considered in those patients with a positive serology for schistosomasis in the absence of direct microbiological isolates, hematuria and/or eosinophilia. Data from ultrasound examinations before and after treatment with praziquantel were collected and categorized following the World Health Organization-Niamey score to standardize the use of ultrasonography for the assessment of schistosomiasis-related morbidity.

Results

Ultrasound examinations were abnormal in only ten patients (2.89%). Main findings were focal thickening of the bladder wall (n = 6), ureteral dilatation (n = 3) and grade I hydronephrosis (n = 1). No malignant lesions, hepatic lesions nor hepatobiliary related disorders were found. After treatment, the S. haematobium global score (5 vs 3.4, p = 0.06) and the urinary bladder score (2 vs 1, p = 0.059) showed a trend towards improvement after treatment. In three patients the score after treatment dropped to 0, and in another three it remained the same although with signs of improvement. No worsening of the score was observed in any case.

Conclusion

For those patients with a diagnosis of schistosomiasis based solely in a positive serology, the ultrasound examination could safely be spared due to the low prevalence of pathological findings and its response to treatment anyway.

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Funding

This study has been conducted within the activities developed by the research group PAIDI CTS 582 of the regional Ministry of Gender, Health and Social Policy of the Government of Andalusia, RICET (Cooperative Research Network on Tropical Diseases, co-financing FEDER, RD16/0027/0013) and CEMyRI (Center for the Study of Migration and Intercultural Relations) of the University of Almeria (Spain). This work was supported by projects RD16/0027/0013 and FIS PI16/00520 (grants numbers).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tropical Medicine Unit, Hospital de Poniente, Ctra de Almerimar 31, 04700, El Ejido, Almería, Spain

    Nerea Castillo-Fernández, Manuel J. Soriano-Pérez, Ana B. Lozano-Serrano, José C. Sánchez-Sánchez, Antonio Villarejo-Ordóñez, José A. Cuenca-Gómez, María I. Cabeza-Barrera & Joaquín Salas-Coronas

  2. Tropical Medicine Unit, Distrito Sanitario Poniente de Almería, Calle Jesús de Perceval 22, 04700, El Ejido, Almería, Spain

    José Vázquez-Villegas

Authors
  1. Nerea Castillo-Fernández
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  2. Manuel J. Soriano-Pérez
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  3. Ana B. Lozano-Serrano
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  4. José C. Sánchez-Sánchez
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  5. Antonio Villarejo-Ordóñez
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  6. José A. Cuenca-Gómez
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  7. José Vázquez-Villegas
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  8. María I. Cabeza-Barrera
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  9. Joaquín Salas-Coronas
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Contributions

JSC contributed to the conception and design of the project, analytical design, interpretation, writing the draft of the manuscript and revisions. NCF contributed to the conception and design of the project, analytical design, interpretation, writing the draft of the manuscript and revisions. MJSP contributed to the conception and design of the project, analytical design, interpretation, writing the draft of the manuscript and revisions. ABLS contributed to the analytical design, interpretation, writing the draft of the manuscript and revisions. JCSS participated in the data collection and revisions. AVO contributed to the data collection and revising the manuscript. JACG contributed to the data collection and revising the manuscript. JVV contributed to the data collection and revising the manuscript. ICB contributed to the data collection and revising the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manuel J. Soriano-Pérez.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

Anonymized data were collected retrospectively. This study has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Coordinating Site (protocol PUB_20_18Trop).

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Castillo-Fernández, N., Soriano-Pérez, M.J., Lozano-Serrano, A.B. et al. Usefulness of ultrasound in sub-Saharan patients with a serological diagnosis of schistosomiasis. Infection 49, 919–926 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-021-01612-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-021-01612-x

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