Prevalence of Schistosomiasis Infections among School Children in Sinnar State, Central Sudan

Schistosomiasis is a wide distributed disease in Asia, South America, and African sub-Saharan countries. In Sudan it is persistently endemic in most parts of the country particularly in the center where most of the irrigating agricultural schemes were constructed. It affects most of the population of these areas particularly schoolchildren, farmers, and animal breeders. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Sinnar state of central Sudan during the period from July 2018 to February 2019. Urine and stool samples were collected from schoolchildren (boys and girls) of ages ranging from 9 to 16 years old with average ages of 13.5 years. For S. mansoni a total of 167 stool samples were collected and processed by a single Kato-Katz test in duplicated slides for the detection and calculation of S. mansoni eggs, while for S. haematobium a total of 229 urine samples were collected and processed by centrifugation concentrating technique for the detection of S. haematobium eggs. Out of the 396 samples (urines and stools) there were 65 positive samples detected, constituting a prevalence rate of 16.4% for the two species. For S. mansoni, out of the 167 stools there were 4 positive samples recorded from Sinnar locality. The overall result revealed that the prevalence of S. mansoni was 2.4 % in Sinnar state, 6.45% in Sinnar locality while all stools from Sinja locality were showed negative results. On the other hand, out of the 229 urines there were 61 positive samples, indicating the prevalence of S. haematobium as 26.6% in Sinnar state. The prevalence of schistosomiasis haematobium in Sinnar and Sinja localities was 4% and 53.3% respectively. However, 57% of the infected children were acquired infection by playing in the water canals. The overall prevalence of schistosomiasis in Sinnar state was 16.4 %. Infection with S. mansoni was 2.4% while with S. haematobium was 26.6%. The prevalence of schistosomiasis in Sinnar locality was 10.4% while in Sinja locality was 53.3%. The findings of this study revealed the need for an integrated control programme for schistosomiasis in Sinnar state.