Hs infection is a common diseases among children returning from tropical regions (10). However, this pathology is poorly known by pediatricians in non-endemic areas and patients (19). In our study, the average delay between arrival in France and diagnosis often exceeded 6 months. In our study, only 19 patients had received treatment before the onset of clinical signs. Similar delays in diagnosis have been observed in US (3, 20). To address this issue, the French health authority has recommended systematic screening for schistosomiasis in individuals returning from endemic areas since 2017 (13, 21). Screening of migrant patients is mainly carried out by health care access services or by general practitioners (22) while hospitals are more likely used to symptomatic patients. Our retrospective collection of data in university hospitals may introduce bias, as the study population may over-represent the most severe cases and those less involved in conventional follow-up. Asymptomatic patients were few, making the study population less representative of the general population (23).
The majority of patients included were migrant children. We can hypothesize that French travelers to schistosomiasis-endemic areas were better informed about the risks of Hs contamination through traveler's consultations, and had shorter periods of exposure (34, 35).Additionally, we found a higher prevalence of bacterial or parasitic coinfections among migrants patients (15). Four patients in our cohort were infected during the Corsican US epidemic. They did not present any complications.
The median age at diagnosis was 14 years and the male-female sex ratio was 4.1. These findings are consistent with studies conducted in Western countries (24). However, the sex ratio found in epidemiological studies in endemic areas is close to 1.1 (25, 26). The predominance of infected boys in our study can be partly attributed to the fact that the majority of included children were unaccompanied minors (65%) who are predominantly male (22). Other factors such as underreporting of urinary symptoms in girls or limited acces to healthcare for woman may also contribute to this gender imbalance (27).
Five patients in our cohort had complicated forms: two epididymitis, one bladder stenosis, one ureteral stenosis and one renal failure. Creatinine measurement was absent in 50% of the files and ultrasound was absent in 12 patients (17%). An ultrasound anomaly was present in 55% of cases. However, the search for complication by ultrasound is essential to monitor the post-treatment evolution. In an adult cohort of 241 patients, Abdou et al reported 7 cases of bladder dilatation, 12 of ureteral dilatation and 15 of bladder cancer (28). In another study by Hodel et al, the presence of Hs infection was associated with an increased risk of chronic renal failure (OR 2.5)(29). Finally, a Barcelona study on imported schistosomiasis found even 30% renal failure in their adult patients (30). Given the major long-term complications, it seems essential to screen patients who have visited an endemic area and to organize screening, treatment, biological and ultrasound follow-up (31) as well as screening of infertility outcome (32, 33). Only 20% of patients had schistosomiasis diagnosis from a pediatrician and the median delay to diagnosis was of 6 month. These two data show the lack of knowledge of this pathology in pediatrics and underline the necessity of a better training on this pathology. Indeed, the earlier patients are treated for their schistosomiasis, the fewer complications they will have (34).
The biological diagnosis of US is complex. We found hypereosinophilia in 71% of cases, more than usually found in epidemiological studies (50% of hypereosinophilia found in Italy) (24). The combined ELISA and WB serologies were positive in 77% of patients. Stool parasitology had a low cost-effectiveness but seems essential to detect parasitic co-infections in migrant patients. UPE combine with PCR was the most sensitive test, positive in 93% of patients. These data are consistent with those reported in the literature (35).
We observe a lack of biological control of healing in follow-up. EPU control was searched in 15 patients (12,3%). This may be due to a high rate of lost-to-follow-up as well and a reluctance of asymptomatic patients to undergo futher tests.. A serological control was performed in 28 patients (14,8%) with a decrease in antibody titer, as expected. The urinary eosinophil cationic protein test (36) was performed in only one patient, so its effectiveness in the follow-up remains inconclusive.
A total of 109 patients received praziquantel with two case requiting a second dose due to treatment failure. Treatment failure has been reported in the literature (37, 38), underscoring the importance of parasitological follow-up in imported schistosomiasis cases. Adverse effets of praziquantel treatment were reported in 3 patients (2 vomiting and one pruritus). This rate is low in our cohort (39), probably due to an information bias. Many patients didn’t have detailed follow-up consultation reports and simple adverse events such as abdominal pain were probably underestimated. Unfortunately, information on previous preventive treatment with praziquantel in patients’ country of origin was not available. Giving the high rate of lost to follow-up and the low rate of adverse event of praziquantel treatment, its systematic use for the migrant population could be an effective approach (6). However, this choice should not overshadow the need for effective screening of complications and a long-term follow-up (40)