Renal function in Sudanese school children with Schistosoma mansoni infection

Abstract

Renal function was investigated in 218 school children with Schistosoma mansoni infec- tion in the Province of Gezira in central Sudan and in 65 Sudanese and 65 German age-matched controls. Serum creatinine was normal in all chil- dren. A pathological urinary protein-creatinine ratio was found in 3% of S. mansoni-infected chil- dren and in 5% of Sudanese controls but in none of the European children. Characterization of pathological proteinuria using albumin nephelom- etry, alpha-1 microglobulin immunodiffusion and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in these children showed glomerular, tubular or mixed glomerulotubular patterns. One, 4 and 6 months following treatment of schistosomiasis with praziquantel, stools were re-examined; 57% of patients were cured, 16% were found to be rein- fected and 27% had persistent egg excretion. Six months after therapy, pathological urinary pro- tein-creatinine ratios were encountered in 3% of S. mansoni patients and in none of the 34 reinves- tigated controls. Proteinuria was similar in pa- tients with persistent S. mansoni egg excretion and in children cured of schistosomiasis infection. It is concluded that there was no evidence for S. mansoni associated glomerulonephritis in this group of Sudanese children. The high rate of pathological proteinuria in S. mansoni-infected and non-infected Sudanese children may be due to other causes.