EVALUATION OF HEMATURIA AS AN INDIRECT SCREENING-TEST FOR SCHISTOSOMIASIS-HAEMATOBIUM - A POPULATION-BASED STUDY IN THE WHITE-NILE PROVINCE, SUDAN

Haematuria elicited in the history, seen macroscopically or detected by reagent strips, was used as an indirect screening test for Schistosoma haematobium infection in Um-Hani Irrigation Scheme in the White Nile province, Sudan. These approaches were used separately or combined in different sequences. Reagent strips alone detected 81% of cases and 88% of those who excreted 50 egg/10 ml of urine or more. The sequence of observation of gross haematuria followed by screening with reagent strips and then taking history of haematuria had the highest sensitivity of all the orders, 0.87, and it saved 18% of reagent strips. If history and inspection were done first, followed by reagent strips, the sensitivity would be 0.86 and 47% of strips would be saved. The specificity of haematuria as a diagnostic index for schistosomiasis, however, was low.