Abstract

O. P. G. Nmorsi*, N. C. D. Ukwandu, C. Isaac, A. O. Egwunyenga and N. H. Olague

The preliminary investigation revealed the prevalence of 138(46.9%) out of 294 volunteers screened for the ova of Schistosoma haematobium in their urine samples. Of these, 84(28.6%) had light infection (  50 ova/10 ml urine), while 54(18.4%) had heavy infection (> 50 ova/10 ml urine). This difference was statistically significant at ( 2 = 6.52, p > 0.05). The mean immunoglobulin status were as follow: IgE (2141.6 ± 143.7 ng/dL), IgG (13.6 ± 3.53 mg/dL), IgA (3.72 ± 0.149 mg/dL), IgM (2.82 ± 0.48 mg/dL) and IgD (0.12 ± 0.04 mg/dL) . The relationship between the IgM, IgE and the intensities of infection were positively correlated (r = 0.27 and r = 0.65, respectively) . IgG, IgA and IgD showed negative correlation with the intensities of infection (r = -0.65, r = -0.39 and r = - 0.18, respectively). IgG and IgA can be used as markers of light infection, while IgM and IgE can be used as markers for heavy infection. We deduced that the levels of IgG, IgA and IgM, which were depleted in the infected volunteers, compared to the control subjects, which lacked significant protective effects in these infected volunteers. These low levels of IgA, IgG and IgM and high level of IgE may be involved in maintenance of S. haematobium infection in our study area.