Re Pamela's question about the safety of medicine for bilharzia
(schistosomiasis) while breastfeeding.  In Mali, where schisto is quite
common, I was doing some research in 1989 on parasites and took urine and
stool samples from children and had them tested at the Vet Lab.  Any that
tested positive for schisosomiasis were given the proper dose of
praziquantel -- even if they were infants/toddlers/young children.  The dose
is based on body weight.  As long as the amount coming through the breast
milk is not more than the amount that one would give the baby directly based
on its body weight, it should be fine.  Also, although it is no doubt
upsetting to this mother to be urinating blood, it is still the case that
people survive for *years* with red urine, so there is not necessarily a
*medical* reason to insist on immediate treatment if the concensus is that
the mother should not breastfeed after taking the medication.  She has had
the disease for many months (years) by the time she gets to the "blood in
the urine" stage.  Waiting a few more months will not make much difference.
The medicine is quite effective -- just one dose wipes out the infection,
but chances are extremely good that the mother will be reinfected from the
same water source (pond, river, stream) where she got the disease the first
time.

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University