Current trends in the laboratory diagnosis of schistosomiasis infection
Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that affects about 290 million patients worldwide. Children agedbetween 5 and 14 years represent 45.8% of the affected patients, in addition, schistosomiasis has been reported inSchistosoma-free areas, mostly because of tourism and immigration from endemic countries. Intestinalschistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma mansoni is mainly diagnosed via direct stool examination for egg detection.Immunological methods are favoured for disease monitoring and preliminary checking for communities in areaswith low infection rates, and for patients with light and chronic infections where parasitological tests are negative.PCR-based diagnostic techniques are more sensitive, but expensive. Tegument proteins and miRNAs are promisingmarkers for diagnosis of schistosomiasis.Keywords: Schistosomiasis, Diagnosis and current trends