Abstract Background: Schistosomiasis is one among the neglected tropical parasitic diseases. Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), regarded as a complication of schistosomiasis due to Schistosoma haematobium infestation of the female genital tract, poses serious health risks to women of reproductive age. The clinical manifestations of FGS are non-specific, leading to delay in making a diagnosis. Several studies have been conducted on FGS mostly in endemic areas, but no universally acceptable method of diagnosis has been observed. Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study conducted at the Federal Medical Centre and three primary health centres in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Reproductive-aged women had undergone routine Pap smear and colposcopy. The colposcopy findings were interpreted using World Health Organization FGS atlas, and the yield of both procedures was compared against urine microscopy as the gold standard. Results: A total of 176 participants with age ranging between 15 and 49 years were recruited. The prevalence of FGS was 56.3%, 70 participants (39.8%) had positive colposcopic features of FGS while 68 participants (38.6%) had Schistosoma eggs present in their Pap smear. The sensitivity of the colposcopy was 52.5%, while that of Pap smear was 45.5%, with a statistically significant difference ( P = 0.001). Colposcopy showed a statistically significant ( P <0.001) higher specificity of 76.6% compared to Pap smear (70.1%). In terms of the overall accuracy, colposcopy (63.1%) is significantly more accurate than Pap smear (56.3%; P = 0.035). Conclusion: Colposcopy is a better procedure in diagnosing FGS because it showed better yield than Pap smear. Interestingly, both procedures could be put to extended use for detection of FGS, especially in the endemic areas.
Aremu et al. (Thu,) studied this question.