Detection of four patients who were infected by Schistosoma haematobium in Vietnam

INTRODUCTION: Schistosoma lives as a parasite in the portal vein causing intestinal lesions. It also lives in the liver, spleen, and the vein of the urinary bladder causing lesions in the urinary system. Angola is an endemic area of Schistosoma haematobium, which causes lesions in the urinary system, including the urinary bladder. In this study, we aimed to identify and classify the parasites that were collected from four patients from Angola, who currently live in Vietnam, by morphological and molecular methods. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The main clinical symptoms of the patients were collected, and Schistosoma eggs were taken from urine by a centrifugal method from the four patients in 2016. Identification of the species by morphological method was taken using a microscope. The DNA of the Schistosoma was also isolated and was identified by cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 (Cox1) sequence. RESULTS: The four Vietnamese patients infected with S. haematobium in Angola returned to Vietnam. All the patients felt strange and had cystalgia and hematuria (blood urine), and one of them was diagnosed with urinary bladder cancer, where surgery was necessary for that patient. Schistosoma eggs, which were collected from the urine of the four patients, were identified as S. haematobium by morphological and molecular methods. These patients were the first reports of Schistosoma in Vietnam. CONCLUSION: Four Vietnamese schistosomiasis patients returned from Angola: three were diagnosed with schistosomiasis and one was diagnosed with urinary bladder cancer. They had similar symptoms including a strange feeling, cystalgia, hematuria, and eosinophilia and were detected with Schistosoma eggs in urine.