Schistosoma mansoni in pregnancy and associations with anaemia in northwest Tanzania.
Ajanga, Antony;
Lwambo, Nicholas JS;
Blair, Lynsey;
Nyandindi, Ursuline;
Fenwick, Alan;
Brooker, Simon;
(2006)
Schistosoma mansoni in pregnancy and associations with anaemia in northwest Tanzania.
Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 100 (1).
pp. 59-63.
ISSN 0035-9203
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trstmh.2005.06.024
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Schistosomiasis among pregnant women has been inadequately investigated. In order to determine the importance of Schistosoma mansoni in this subgroup, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 972 women in Tanzania and investigated the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni, hookworm and malaria and their associations with anaemia. Overall, 63.5% of women were infected with S. mansoni, with prevalence highest among younger women and decreasing with increasing age. The prevalence of hookworm was 56.3%, and 16.4% of women had malaria parasitaemia. Overall, 66.4% of women were anaemic. Increased risk of anaemia was associated with heavy infection with S. mansoni but not hookworm or Plasmodium falciparum parasitaemia.
