.4m.I.Trop.Med. Ilyg.,27(5),1978,pp.916—918 Copyright ©1978 by The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Abstract. An epidemiologic survey to assess the prevalence of bacteriuria in urinary schis tosomiasiswas carriedoutina regionendemicforurinaryschistosomiasisinEgypt. Twenty of 390 (5.1%) schoolboys aged 5—16yearswere bacteriuric.This prevalencerateismore than10timesgreaterthanthatfoundincomparablesurveysinareasnon-endemicforurinary schistosomiasis.In thisendemic populationbacteriuriawas found in 6.5 % of activeegg excreters and 2.3 % of non-egg excreters. Schistosomiasis is an endemic helminthic dis ease in Egypt infecting approximately 20 million people.1 Schistosoma haematobium, one of the two species present in Egypt, primarily affects the urinary tract causing hematuria, mucosal granulomasand submucosalcalcificationof the bladder and ureters, frequently leading to some degree of obstructive uropathy.2'3 It is well established that a frequent manifestation of par tial or complete urinary tract obstruction is bacterial urinary tract infection.4'5 The damaged urinary tract of patients with urinary schistoso miasis has been postulated to be more susceptible to bacterial infection. A recent study of 200 patientshospitalizedfor documented urinary schistosomiasis showed a bacteriuria prevalence of 39%,2 Over half of these patients with bac teriuriahad concomitantbacteremia.As these were selected hospitalized patients, no epidemio logic conclusion could be drawn. Epidemiobogical surveys for bacteriuria in other countriesendemicforurinaryschistosomiasishave given conflicting results. Studies in northwest Tanzaniashowed a bacteriuriarateof 10 % in a populationthatincludedboth femalesand males