Performance of microhaematuria and proteinuria as measured by urine reagent strips in estimating intensity and prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium infection in Nigeria.

Objective: To assess if microhaematuria and proteinuria as measured by reagent strips could estimate intensity of Schistosoma haematobium (S. haematobium) infection in endemic areas and evaluate their screening performance among children in Benue State, Nigeria.

Methods: A total of 1,124 urine samples were collected, screened for microhaematuria and proteinuria using reagent strips (Combi 9) and results were compared to filtration technique, the gold standard method.

Results: A significant correlation was observed between microhaematuria (rho= 0.66, P<0.01), proteinuria (rho = 0.71, P<0.01) and intensity of S. haematobium eggs. Proteinuria had sensitivity of 95.7% and specificity of 67.2%, while microhaematuria had sensitivity of 64.8% and specificity of 89.6%. The proportion of false positive diagnoses was higher in proteinuria (19.2%) than microhaematuria (6.0%).

Conclusions: The findings suggest that use of urine reagent strips could potentially estimate intensity of S. haematobium infection and their performance to screen urinary schistosomiasis agreed with previous observations.