ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2020
Genital self-sampling compared with cervicovaginal lavage for the diagnosis of female genital schistosomiasis in Zambian women: The BILHIV study.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of female genital schistosomiasis and human papillomavirus and cervical pre-cancer: a systematic review.BMC women's health · 2025Pooled it
- Schistosomiasis endemicity and its role in sexually transmitted infections - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in parasitology · 2024Pooled it
- Cervicovaginal Immune Activation in Zambian Women With Female Genital Schistosomiasis.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Trial
- Association Between Female Genital Schistosomiasis and High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Among Women of Reproductive Age in Zambia: The Schista Study.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Acceptability and feasibility of one-stop home-based genital self-sampling for female genital schistosomiasis, human papilloma virus and self-testing for trichomonas and HIV: the Zipime Weka Schista study in Zambia.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Optimisation and analytical assessment of a TaqMan™ probe-based real-time PCR assay designed to diagnose infection with Schistosoma japonicum.Parasites & vectors · 2026Article
- Diagnostic competence and health worker knowledge of female genital schistosomiasis management in a rural Ghanaian district.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Diagnosis and treatment of female genital schistosomiasis.The Lancet. Microbe · 2026Review
- AID-FGS: Artificial intelligence-enabled diagnosis of female genital schistosomiasis: Preliminary findings.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Closing the diagnostic gap in male genital schistosomiasis (MGS): current detection tools and novel strategies.Parasitology · 2025Review
- Cross-sectional assessment of feasibility and acceptability in screening for female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) in two clinical settings in East Province, Cameroon.Parasitology · 2025Article
- Microscopic detection and genetic characterization of schistosome eggs within cervicovaginal lavage sediments from cases of female genital schistosomiasis.Parasitology · 2025Article
- Visual diagnostics for female genital schistosomiasis and the opportunity for improvement using computer vision.Parasitology · 2025Review
- Mainstreaming female genital schistosomiasis to ensure it is not neglected among the neglected tropical diseases.Parasitology · 2025Review
- Now, more than ever, it's time to address the neglect of female genital schistosomiasis.Parasitology · 2025Review
- 'Female Genital Schistosomiasis: Translational Challenges and Opportunities' - outputs and actions from a consultative, collaborative and translational workshop.Parasitology · 2025Review
- Knowledge, attitudes and practices toward Female Genital Schistosomiasis among women living in communities along the Volta Lake in Volta Region, Ghana.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- The impact of Schistosoma haematobium hybridization on molecular diagnosis of schistosomiasis: A review with emphasis on female genital schistosomiasis.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Review
- Metabolic comparison of minimally to noninvasive urogenital sample types for studying gynecologic health: A pilot study.iScience · 2025Article
- Detection of soil-transmitted helminths and Schistosoma spp. by nucleic acid amplification test: Results of the first 5 years of the only international external quality assessment scheme.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundGiven the potentially causal association of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) with HIV-1 infection, improved diagnostics are urgently needed to scale-up FGS surveillance. The BILHIV (bilharzia and HIV) study assessed the performance of home-based self-collection methods (cervical and vaginal swabs) compared to cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) for the detection of Schistosoma DNA by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
methodsBetween January and August 2018, a consecutive series of female participants from the Population-Cohort of the previous HIV prevention trial HPTN 071 (PopART), resident in Livingstone, Zambia were invited to take part in BILHIV if they were 18-31 years old, non-pregnant and sexually active. Genital self-collected swabs and a urine specimen were obtained and a questionnaire completed at home visits. CVL was obtained at clinic follow-up.
results603 women self-collected genital swabs. Of these, 527 women had CVL performed by a mid-wife during clinic follow-up. Schistosoma DNA was more frequently detected in genital self-collected specimens (24/603, 4.0%) compared to CVL (14/527, 2.7%). Overall, 5.0% (30/603) women had female genital schistosomiasis, defined as a positive PCR by any genital sampling method (cervical swab PCR, vaginal swab PCR, or CVL PCR) and 95% (573/603) did not have a positive genital PCR. The sensitivity of any positive genital self-collected swab against CVL was 57.1% (95% CI 28.9-82.3%), specificity 97.3% (95.5-98.5%). In a subset of participants with active schistosome infection, determined by detectable urine Circulating Anodic Antigen (CAA) (15.1%, 91/601), positive PCR (4.3%, 26/601), or positive microscopy (5.5%, 33/603), the sensitivity of any positive self-collected specimen against CVL was 88.9% (51.8-99.7%).
conclusionsGenital self-sampling increased the overall number of PCR-based FGS diagnoses in a field setting, compared with CVL. Home-based sampling may represent a scalable alternative method for FGS community-based diagnosis in endemic resource limited settings.
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