Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Research, education and capacity development in resource-poor settings--a festschrift for Professor M.E. Molyneux OBE. Preface.

Before 1948 fresh water was imported into Kuwait by boat from Iraq. Possibly some snails shedding cercariae of Schistosoma haematobium were occasionally brought in with the water, and rarely a person may have been infected by this means. Normally however there was no transmission of S. haematobium infection in Kuwait. Nevertheless, urinary schistosomiasis was not uncommon in Kuwait Oil Company Ltd. (K.O.C.) employees, many of whom came from other countries. Altogether in 1960 there were 89 male patients directly employed by K.O.C. who had been treated by one of us for urinary schistosomiasis and who were considered to have been cured. We do not know when or where many of them acquired their infections, for the histories given were often unreliable. No systematic urinary egg-counts were made, but nearly all patients were carefully investigated clinically to define exactly the pathological changes caused by S. haematobium infection. Detailed findings in 26 of them were earlier reported in this journal (FoRsYTH, 1961). In 1970, 32 of the 89 patients remained in uninterrupted service with K.O.C. This total includes 10 of the patients described in the previous report (op cit). 4 other patients were treated by one of us for urinary schistosomiasis before 1960, but left K.O.C. and later rejoined the Company. These 36 patients were examined at irregular intervals between 1961 and 1970, and all of them were carefully reviewed during 1970 and 1971 to assess the residual effects of infection with S. haematobium. The period of observation after urinary schistosomiasis was diagnosed varied from 11 to 18 years, with a mean of 13.8 years.