KEY FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION:

-  S.mansoni and viral hepatitis infections are important causes of chronic liver diseases in Egypt.

- In rural Alexandria s.mansoni is still endemic, but the overall prevalence of a positive stool and the average intensity of infection are relatively low.

-  Seropositivity of HCV was found high in adults above  35 years ( positive HCV Ab in 45.9% of individuals ) .

- The estimated prevalence of portal hypertension in the study area was found strikingly high (30.6%, 95% CI  19.2-42.0% )

 - Considering the relative importance of viral hepatitis and schistosoma infections in the causation of portal hypertension in study population, schistosomosis as the possible single cause is responsible only for one fifth ( 20.0% ) of these cases, while virus markers were positive in more than half of these cases .

- In adult villagers high procollagen III peptide( PIIIP) should prompt search for viral infections.  This is in contrast to children in whom we found PIIIP as an indicator for fibro genesis induced by schist soma infection.

- The preventive strategies against the historical public health challenge of schistosomosis in the Egyptian villagers should be expected to change dramatically with the increasing awareness about the risk of the combined hepatic schistosomal and viral infections .