Schistosomiasis remains a major public health problem with estimated 240 million cases worldwide whereby more than 90% of these occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Tanzania is ranked second after Nigeria in terms of disease burden with prevalence of infection as higher as 100% in some communities. We conducted a cross-sectional malacological survey to examine for abundance, identity and disease transm...

A comparative study was made between sympatric isolates of Schistosoma mansoni: one from a wild rodent (R) Nectomys squamipes and another one from humans (H) isolated from a low endemic schistosomiasis transmission area in Brazil. Our purpose was to detect differences between them concerning chaetotaxy (number and pattern of distribution of the argentophilic papillae) of the cercariae by means ...

BACKGROUND Infection with Schistosoma spp. affects more than 258 million people worldwide. Current treatment strategies are mainly based on the anthelmintic Praziquantel, which is effective against adult worms but neither prevents re-infection nor cures severe liver damage. The best long-term strategy to control schistosomiasis may be to develop an immunization. Therefore, we designed a two-ste...

In vivo and ectopic encystment of the cercariae of Echinostoma revolutum from Lymnaea elodes snails in Indiana and chemical excystation of the metacercariae were studied. In vivo encystment occurred in adults of Biomphalaria glabrata and Helisoma trivolvis (Colorado strain) snails and in neonatal and juvenile L. elodes snails. These results were expected because 37-collar-spined Echinostoma spe...

Cercarial behavior patterns were examined in 4 species of frog lung flukes (Haematoloechus spp.). Cercariae of Haematoloechus complexus, Haematoloechus medioplexus, Haematoloechus longiplexus, and Haematoloechus varioplexus were exposed to 3 species of experimental arthropods and an inanimate control. The number of cercariae attached to an experimental host at 5 min postexposure was recorded. H...

Although schistosomiasis has been a public health issue in Gabon for nearly a century, little is known about its current transmission dynamics. We analyzed the chronobiology of 137 cercarial emission profiles of Schistosoma haematobium from Libreville, the capital of Gabon, located in an open area for schistosomiasis. We found that 88% of the cercariae were shed between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. and t...

Spontaneous electrical activity is recorded in two species of marine cercariae, Cryptocotyle lingua and Himasthla elongata, with different types of swimming-by glass microelectrode recordings. Slow local field potentials (sLFPs) of low amplitude and fast high amplitude action potentials (APs) are found. The shape of the sLFPs is different in the species and correlates with the type of swimming....

Freshwater snails are known to serve as first intermediate hosts for various parasitic diseases such as schistosomosis and fasciolosis. Snails were collected on several occasions in the proximity of Pretoria, South Africa and their cercarial sheddings were studied. This article describes three different types of cercariae shed by the freshwater snail, Lymnaea natalensis, viz. a fork-tailed cerc...