The intensity of Schistosoma mansoni in the fishing villages of Bugonga and Kitubulu in Entebbe Peninsula; Uganda

ABSTRACT

The intensity of Schistosoma mansoni infection in the fishing villages of Bugonga and Kitubulu; and the occurrence of snail intermediate host population in the two villages are described and compared. A total of five hundred and six faecal samples from both villages were examined by modified Kato's technique and the prevalence infection rate at Kitubulu was 40.3pc with mean egg count of 187 eggs per gram(epg) while in Bugonga it was 32.4pc and 126 epg respectively. The snail intermediate host for S. mansoni in the two villages was 2;750 Biomphalaria choanomphala at Kitubulu and 1;268 at Bugonga. But at Kitubulu in the vicinity of the village 185 Biomphalaria peifferi occurred in small localized population. The cercarial screening test conducted on 4;018 B. choanomphala and 185 B. peifferi from the two villages revealed higher snail infection rate for both mammalian and non-mammalian cercariae at Kitubulu than Bugonga. Variations in infection rates both among the inhabitants and host snail populations in the two villages are discussed