02280nas a2200241   4500000000100000008004100001260003100042653003900073653002000112653001400132100001600146700001500162700001800177700001900195700001700214700001800231700001600249700001800265245007200283856004800355300000700403520162800410       2017                            d  bBENTHAM SCIENCE PUBLISHERS10aNeglected tropical diseases (NTDs)10aschistosomiasis10adiagnosis1 aOliveira SA1 aSouza VC A1 aFigueiredo AL1 aMontenegro SML1 aAzevedo EA N1 aOliveira SA V1 aMorais CN L1 aDomingues ALC00aSchistosomiasis mansoni diagnosis: Current status and perspectives.  uhttp://www.eurekaselect.com/158598/volume/1  a443 a<p>Schistosomiasis is considered a neglected tropical disease and remains a major public health problem throughout the tropics and subtropics with significant socioeconomic impact. More than 200 million people are infected worldwide. Within schistosomiasis, the specie Schistosoma mansoni is a major cause of this parasitic disease in developing countries and has been associated with high morbidity and mortality during both acute and chronic phases of infection. For the diagnosis of schistosomiasis mansoni, the gold standard is used for the detection of parasite eggs in stools. However, in patients with low parasite infection burdens, the direct detection of eggs is difficult owing to its low sensitivity. For this reason, serological tests are used to detect secreted S. mansoni antigens or antibodies produced to combat adult worm or soluble egg antigens. However, these assays are unable to differentiate between the different phases, which is necessary to follow up the evolution of the disease and chemotherapy efficacy. Research into other diagnostic tests has shown ways of overcoming the problems inherent to antibody detection and parasitological techniques in moderately to marginally endemic areas. Other techniques, such as polymerase chain reaction assays, have been considered as methods for the diagnosis of S. mansoni infections in different samples: stool, serum and urine. In this chapter, imaging methods are used not for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis as a disease, but for the diagnosis of morbidity, identifying the changes caused by Schistosoma mansoni infection in the human organism.</p>