[Intestinal bilharziasis with rectal bleeding: apropos of 3 cases]

The authors report three cases of Schistosoma mansoni infection among European women coming back from Burkina-Faso. Six weeks after the infestation, these three patients showed, at first, a bloody diarrhoea, then large oedemas. The treatment, with praziquantel, was not tolerate very well and all the three patients had a high fever after. This case report requests a clarification about the frequency of such symptoms. The authors focus, through this observation, on the necessity of increasing the number of stools parasitologic analysis in order to diagnose. A sole negative analysis cannot eliminate it. Sometimes, only the rectal biopsy can find the eggs of the parasite.