Prevalence of Urinary Schistosomiasis in Migrants in Apulia, a Region of Southern Italy, in the Years 2006-2016.

Gaetano Brindicci,Emanuela Ciracì,Carmen Rita Santoro,Vittoriana De Laurentiis,Gioacchino Angarano,Laura Monno,Daniela Loconsole,Carmen Capolongo,Roberta Papagni,Giuseppe Miragliotta,Pietro Gatti,Maria Elena Solarino,Rosa Monno

doi:10.1155/2017/8257310

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is the most prevalent tropical disease in the world after malaria. According to the World Health Organization, the disease afflicts more than 240 million people in about 80 countries. Recently, an epidemiological surveillance study performed between 1997 and 2010 by the European Network for Tropical Medicine and Health Travel regarding schistosomiasis between immigrants and travelers has been published. No data are available in the literature regarding the situation in South Italy. Herein, we report the prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in a population of migrants in Apulia referring to our outpatient clinic for immigrant diseases in the period 2006–2016. Since all cases of schistosomiasis were related to the last three years of observation, the demographic and clinical characteristics of the study population were compared before and after 2014. Nearly 51% of all patients visited (1762) were from high/moderate endemic countries for schistosomiasis, and nine cases of urinary schistosomiasis were diagnosed. Prevalence was 1% among migrants from endemic areas and 10% in those from Mali and Senegal. Our findings confirm that schistosomiasis is a widespread infection among immigrants, even if it is often underdiagnosed because of the multifaceted clinical presentation. Changes in migratory dynamics can affect clinical observations very quickly.

Highlights

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by trematodes of the genus Schistosoma, described for the first time in 1851 by Theodor Bilharz [1]
We describe the prevalence of urinary schistosomiasis in a population of migrants in Apulia, the majority of whom arrived in Europe less than a year, who referred to the outpatient clinic for immigrant diseases c/o the Infectious Diseases Clinic of Bari over a period running from 2006 to 2016
Urinary schistosomiasis is a common problem in developing countries, while in our geographical area only a few cases have been observed

Summary

Introduction

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by trematodes of the genus Schistosoma, described for the first time in 1851 by Theodor Bilharz [1]. Schistosomiasis remains the most prevalent tropical disease in the world [2, 3]. S. haematobium, responsible for urinary schistosomiasis, is endemic in Africa, in the Arabian Peninsula, and in some countries of Middle East [5, 6]. High-burden countries, where the prevalence of schistosomiasis is ≥50%, are numerically limited and confined to a restricted area of Sub-Saharan Africa whereas countries to moderate endemicity (10–49% prevalence) include much of Sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen. According to WHO these countries are considered at high risk of transmission [7, 8]

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