Hematuria and Dysuria in the Self-Diagnosis of Urinary Schistosomiasis among School-Children in Northern Cameroon

The present study was designed to assess the value of self reported hematuria and dysuria in the diagnosis of urinary schistosomiasis at the individual level. A sample of 964 school children of grade 5 and 6 from 15 schools of the French speaking educational system in the Sudano-sahelian zone of northern Cameroon were submitted to a questionnaire related to hematuria and dysuria; and provided a urine sample each. The urine samples were processed using the dip stick and sedimentation methods; and the degree of microhematuria and oviuria determined. In all 964 questionnaires were collected; 843 urine samples examined for microhematuria and 871 for oviuria. The percentage of children reporting hematuria increased with the degree of microhematuria and the intensity of infection. Among the various indicators of urinary schistosome infection; microhematuria had the highest sensitivity (76); followed by self reported hematuria or dysuria (65); and dysuria (52). The specificity was highest for self reported hematuria; and lowest for self reported hematuria or dysuria. The efficiency of self reported hematuria or dysuria increased with the intensity of infection and was highest (100) for heavy infections ( 400 eggs/ml g urine). We advocate the use of self reported hematuria or dysuria for the assessment of S. haematobium at the individual level

Update on the HIV epidemic in Cameroon

The study aimed at estimating the extent of AIDS epidemic in Cameroon upon which a guideline for activities of the National AIDS programme could be based. It comprises a total of 2377 individuals who attended the antenatal clinic (n=1091); subjects attending sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinics (n=382) and blood donors (n=212). In Kumba a random recruited individuals attending the hospital casual consultation (n=160) was done; and compared their HIV seroprevalence results with those of frozen samples (n=391) collected from a malaria community survey in 1989; and 141 randomly selected pygmies aged between 18-45 years in the eastern province of Cameroon was screened. HIV-1/2 infection was detected with one or the other of a combined screening assay. The results obtained were as follows: in Kumba; one of the 391 was positive (0.3 percent; CL; 0-0.8) compared with one of the 160 casual consultants sera in 1992 (0.6 percent; CL; 0-1.4). In the rural areas; 13 individuals (3.5 percent; 95 percent CL; 1.7-5.3) were HIV-1 positive; one was HIV-2 positives and one of the 141 pygmies (0.7 percent; 95 percent CL; 0-2) was HIV-1 positive. The seroprevalence results in Bamenda and Bafoussam ranged from 4.2 percent and 1.2 percent. Thus rate varied from 4.3 percent in Kumba to 8.8 percent in Ngaoundere and those reported in Yaounde between 189-90 were 3.3. High HIV seroprevalence was found in blood donors in Bamenda and Limbe (3.1 to 5.7 percent). The authors concluded that since HIV will inevitably reach the remote areas in Africa; HIV control activities must be inititated in all populations in Cameroon irrespective of their location