Prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium in Bladder Biopsies

Abstract

Schistosomiasis also known as bilharzia is a parasitic disease caused by trematode flukes of the genus Schistosoma. One of the species of this genus is Schistosoma haematobium (SH) which causes urinary Schistosomiasis. Schistosoma haematobium is endemic in sub-Saharan region of Africa including Nigeria. Chronic infections by S. haematobium is reported to affect the urinary bladder and is a possible risk factor in the etiology of cancers of the bladder. The ova of SH deposited in bladder provokes intense inflammatory reaction associated with oxygen derived free radicals which are carcinogenic. This research was carried out to determine the prevalence and patterns of SH Ova in bladder biopsies. A total of one hundred and ten (110) bladder biopsies were retrieved from the archival storage of Pathology Laboratory of Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital. The tissue blocks were sectioned, stained and examined for lesions and presence of SH Ova. Thirty five (35) biopsies were found to have the ova making 31.8% of the biopsies. The highest frequency occurred in the biopsies diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) bladder cancer type. The age group specific distribution of SH shows that age group of 31 – 40 years has the highest occurrence of the parasite with 20.8%. The gender pattern showed that SH ova was found more in biopsies belonging to males than those of females. SH infection plays a role in the
development of bladder cancer.