Study title

Treatment guidelines for schistosomiasis recommend increasing frequency of preventative chemotherapy (PC) administration of praziquantel to twice per annum in persistent hotspots of transmission, in combination with integrated control strategies. FibroScHot was an individual randomised superiority trial designed to examine twice per annum and four times per annum treatment frequency. It was conducted in two primary schools, Buhirigi and Kaiso, in Hoima District Uganda – a designated Schistosoma mansoni high transmission area in which PC is targeted at children and adults. Schistosoma mansoni egg counts were one of the FibroScHot trial outcomes. Outcomes were measured at baseline (2020 and 2021) prior to commencement of scheduled trial treatments with praziquantel and again at the 2-year outcome visit. The data presented here are the demographic data for the trial participants and egg counts based upon one stool collected at baseline. Also provided are the results from a questionnaire on WASH infrastructure in the surrounding communities that was implemented in November 2019.Schistosomiasis remains a major public health problem in many developing countries, Uganda inclusive. It affects the poorest people, living in remote, marginal and rural areas, and causes life-long disability, disfigurement, reduced economic productivity and social stigma. In Hoima District, communities on the shores of Lake Albert retain high infection intensities levels. This is despite concerted efforts to provide annual community wide preventative chemotherapy through mass drug administration (MDA) programmes, with the latest reported coverage rates for districts with Lake Albert shores being above the WHO target of 75% of those eligible for treatment (currently school aged children and adults). Failure to gain control of infection in primary school children can result in the development of persistent morbidity that can be life threatening in adulthood. Without improved intervention we...