{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T18:02:08Z","timestamp":1780941728602,"version":"3.54.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014407","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780876800000}}],"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"6","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780272000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100015691","name":"Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R21AI164376"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R21AI164376"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100015691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"\n Background<\/jats:title>\n \n Building on our previous work showing that pooled urine testing can rapidly detect\n Schistosoma haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n infections but has limited sensitivity in low-intensity settings or with large pool sizes, this study evaluated how urine volume, pool size, infection intensity, and diagnostic method affect the detection and quantification of\n S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n eggs in pooled samples.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n Between July 2022 and April 2023, 2,134 urine samples from school-age children living in three regional states of Ethiopia were individually examined by deploying urine filtration microscopy (UFM). Subsequently, 5, 10, 20 and 40 individual samples were strategically pooled and examined by deploying UFM and Fluke Catcher (FC) and varying volumes of urine (10, 20 and 30\u2009mL).<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n UFM was significantly more sensitive than FC for detecting\n S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n eggs in pooled urine samples (\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \u03b2<\/mml:mi>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n ^<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:alternatives>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n =0.83,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u2009<\u20090.001). There were significant interactions between the mean log of urine egg count (UEC) and volume of urine (\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \u03b2<\/mml:mi>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n ^<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:alternatives>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n =0.01,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u2009=\u20090.021) or pool size (\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \u03b2<\/mml:mi>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n ^<\/mml:mo>\n <\/mml:mover>\n <\/mml:mrow>\n <\/mml:math>\n <\/jats:alternatives>\n <\/jats:inline-formula>\n =-0.02,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u2009=\u20090.007) for detecting\n S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n eggs in pooled samples. The odds of detecting eggs in pooled samples in which the mean UEC of individual samples equaled 10 eggs\/mL were 0.78 (95% CI:0.67-0.90) and 0.60 (95% CI:0.51-0.76) times lower when 10\u2009mL rather than 20\u2009mL and 30\u2009mL was examined, respectively. There was a moderate or strong positive correlation between the mean egg count of pooled samples and the average egg count of the individual samples making the pools when pool sizes were 5, 10 or 20 (r\u2009\u2265\u20090.5).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n \n The diagnostic sensitivity of pooled testing for diagnosing\n S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n infection is affected by a complex interplay between the pool size, the volume of urine examined, the mean UEC and the diagnostic method. The sensitivity of the pooled testing strategy may increase with larger urine volumes, higher infection intensity, and when UFM (rather than FC) is used for testing. However, sensitivity could decrease as the pool size increases. Use of UFM, larger urine volumes and smaller to moderate pool sizes could improve detection of\n S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n infection in surveillance and mass deworming programs in low-intensity settings.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014407","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,1]],"date-time":"2026-06-01T17:57:41Z","timestamp":1780336661000},"page":"e0014407","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Factors affecting detection and quantification of Schistosoma haematobium eggs in pooled urine samples"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1537-6639","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Abraham","family":"Degarege","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bruno","family":"Levecke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Christopher R.","family":"Bilder","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David M.","family":"Brett-Major","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Abebe","family":"Animut","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yohannes","family":"Negash","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"M. 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