SCHISTOSOMIASIS MANSONI ACQUIRED IN ADULTHOOD - BEHAVIOR OF EGG COUNTS AND INTRADERMAL TEST

A group of immigrants exposed to fluke infection for the first time in adulthood were investigated in Jacarepagua (Brazil). It was found that the decrease in egg output in 15 to 20-yr. of age, reported from areas where infection starts in childhood, is comparable to what occurs in adults, when duration of exposure is substituted for age. The reliability of the intradermal test is likewise very low in adults exposed for less than 15 years, so that one might presume that this test owes its sensitivity in an adult population to the duration of infection.