ABSTRACT
One hundred and fifty two bilharzial patients together with one hundred and eighty four individuals as free controls were tested for HBsAg using ELISA technique. 6.6% of the former were carriers compared to only 2.2% in the later. It was found that past history of antibilharzial therapy, jaundice and presence of hepatosplenomegaly increased the risk of contracting HB virus infection. Praziquantel therapy showed 60% parasitological cure rate and 90 reduction in the mean egg count of bilharzial carriers of HBV infection. It improved both simple and early hepato-intestinal schistosomiasis as 5 out of 10 HBV carriers became free either from schistosoma ova or HBsAg after 6 months of treatment. In this work all chronic bilharzial carriers (5) had hepatosplenomegaly, 1 patient showed parasitological cure after treatment and the other four patients had a reduction in the mean egg count denoting the failure of praziquantel in improving their immunologic status and thus still HBsAg carriers.
