Urinary schistosomiasis among preschool-aged children in Sahelian rural communities in Mali

Background: Mass chemotherapy with praziquantel is the main control strategy for schistosomiasis in Mali. However, in the national control programme for schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, infants and preschool-aged children are overlooked in preventive chemotherapy campaigns. We therefore determined the prevalence and intensity of urinary schistosomiasis in children between the ages 1-4 years in three villages across Diema health district, a rural community with endemic schistosomiasis in Mali. For Schistosoma haematobium diagnosis, a single urine sample of 10 ml obtained from each child was subjected to the standard urine filtration method. Results: Of the 338 children examined 173 (51.2%) were infected. Both prevalence and intensity of infection varied significantly between communities (p < 0.01). There was no significant difference (p = 0.94) in infection rates between boys (51.2%) and girls (50.3%). Likewise, prevalence did not significantly increase with age (p = 0.86). The overall geometric mean of Williams (GMw) was 18.41 eggs/10 ml urine, with no significant association (p = 0.91) between boys (17.48 eggs/10 ml urine) and girls (19.69 eggs/10 ml urine). However, the GMw significantly increased with age (p = 0.04). Infection of preschool children would occur through early exposure to infected water bodies through both passive and active process. Conclusion: Our study showed that preschool children living closely to lakes across in Mali are at high risk to be infected by schistosomiasis and contributed largely to the transmission; therefore schistosomiasis control interventions should also target infants in addition to school children and adults in endemic areas.