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Urinary Schistosomiasis in Asylum Seekers in Italy: An Emergency Currently Undervalued

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Abstract

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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Heath and Infectious Diseases, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Via del Policlinico 155, 00161, Rome, Italy

    Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Gabriella d’Ettorre & Vincenzo Vullo

  2. Department of Emergency Services and Office for International Health Cooperation and Development, Italian Red Cross, Rome, Italy

    Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Flavia Riccardo, Alice Picciarella & Laura Elena Pacifici

  3. Department of Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases, National Centre for Epidemiology, Surveillance and Health Promotion—Italian Institute of Health, Rome, Italy

    Flavia Riccardo

  4. Department of Emergency Medicine, Calvary Mater Hospital, Newcastle, NSW, Australia

    Carla Ceccarelli

  5. Department of General Surgery, Surgical Specialties and Organ Transplantation “Paride Stefanini”, University of Rome “Sapienza”, Rome, Italy

    Massimo Chiaretti

  6. Department of Emergency Medicine, S.Andrea Hospital, Rome, Italy

    Alice Picciarella

Authors
  1. Giancarlo Ceccarelli
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  2. Gabriella d’Ettorre
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  3. Flavia Riccardo
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  4. Carla Ceccarelli
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  5. Massimo Chiaretti
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  6. Alice Picciarella
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  7. Laura Elena Pacifici
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  8. Vincenzo Vullo
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Correspondence to Giancarlo Ceccarelli.

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Ceccarelli, G., d’Ettorre, G., Riccardo, F. et al. Urinary Schistosomiasis in Asylum Seekers in Italy: An Emergency Currently Undervalued. J Immigrant Minority Health 15, 846–850 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9744-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9744-x

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