Study of Schistosoma mansoni isolates from patients with failure of treatment with oxamniquine.

After three successive treatments with oxamniquine the continuing elimination of Schistosoma mansoni eggs was observed in patients, who came from various regions of Brazil, with different clinical forms of schistosomiasis. The objective of the present study was to determine the experimental behaviour of five different S. mansoni isolates in Swiss Webster mice that were submitted to treatment with the same drug. The experimental group with failure of treatment showed higher mean number of surviving male worms when it was compared to the group without failure of treatment. These date suggest the possibility of resistance to oxamniquine.

Prognosis of schistosomiasis mansoni patients infected with hepatitis B virus.

A clinical study on the evolution of patients with schistosomiasis mansoni has been conducted since 1983 at the outpatient clinic of the Infectious and Parasitic Disease Service in the Clementino Fraga Filho University Hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, comparing prevalence of positive tests for HBsAg, anti-HBsAg, and anti-HBc among patients infected with Schistosoma mansoni coming from various regions of Brazil and with different clinical forms of the disease. A non-significant predominance of HBsAg, anti-HBsAg, and anti-HBc was detected among patients with the hepatosplenic form of schistosomiasis, who presented a more severe clinical evolution with a higher frequency of hematemesis and/or melena, in addition to the development of macronodular cirrhosis and a worse prognosis as compared to patients with the toxemic form, schistosomiasis-infection and the hepatointestinal form.

Morbidade da esquistossomose mansoni no Brasil. I - Estudo de 4.652 casos observados no Rio de Janeiro de 1960 a 1979. / Morbidity of schistosomiasis mansoni in Brazil. I - Study of 4652 cases observed in Rio de Janeiro from 1960 to 1979

No periodo de vinte anos (1960-1979), os autores observaram na Clinica de Doencas Infecciosas e Parasitarias da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, sediada no Pavilhao Carlos Chagas do Hospital Sao Francisco de Assis, 4.652 casos de esquistossomose mansoni procedentes de 18 Estados do Brasil. Entre os casos observados 87,18% eram da forma hepatointestinal e 12,82% da forma hepatoloesplenica entre os quais 30 tinham a forma pulmonar associada.Adicionalmente 30 casos da forma aguda ou toxemica foram estudados no mesmo Servico, em familias residentes no Rio de Janeiro.Alem da observacao clinica e do estudo epidemiologico incluindo o perfil migratorio de cada caso e da casuistica como um todo, foram realizados exames complementares como hemograma, mielograma, dosagem de transaminases, provas de funcao hepatica, eletroforese de proteinas sericas, biopsia hepatica, radiografia de torax e de esofago, esplenoportografia, eletrocardiograma e estudos hemodinamicos do sistema porta, do coracao e da arteria pulmonar em grupos de pacientes selecionados