ABSTRACT
Two species of human schistosomiasis are endemic in Egypt, Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma haematobium was discovered in Egypt in 1851 by Theodor Bilharz and the schistosome life cycle was first described by R. T. Leiper also in Egypt. K. Khalil and M. A. Azim demonstrated the remarkable impact on the transmission of Schistosoma haematobium of converting the ancient form of basin irrigation to perennial irrigation in Upper Egypt. Each governorate was assigned to one of seven Egyptian investigators located at different collaborating centers. The prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium in Upper Egypt increases from south to north as does Schistosoma mansoni in the Nile Delta. Selective chemotherapy is a control approach where each person who is examined and found infected is treated. The positive results from selective chemotherapy led to two separate field trials of mass chemotherapy, one in the Nile Delta and the other in Upper Egypt.
