Appendiceal schistosomiasis. Method of classifying oviposition and inflammation

Twenty surgical specimens of appendiceal schistosomiasis were reviewed retrospectively. They constituted 1 percent of 1984 appendices seen among approximately 15,000 surgical specimens examined at free central laboratories serving the Igbos of Nigeria, West Africa. Oviposition by Schistosoma haematobium was classified according to its association with suppurative appendicitis and normal appendices. Seven of ten infested appendices obtained at curative operations showed suppurative appendicitis, whereas eight of nine infested appendices removed at incidental appendectomies were negative. One interval appendectomy was also negative. It is postulated that utilization of this novel classification on a worldwide basis will help to end the controversy concerning the etiologic role of schistosome ova in acute appendicitis.