background: the present study was carried out to detect the infection of larval stages of trichobilharzia species in the snail lymnaea auricularia in northwestern iran based on dna analysis. methods: a total number of 320 snails of l. auricularia were sampled from four water-bodies located in the suburb of urmia city, north west iran, during may to november 2011. the snails were first microscop...

background: to determine the morphological specifications of the bird schistosomes cercaria from lymnaea gedrosiana and to detect the surface carbohydrates as receptors for host lectins in the host-parasite relationship systems such as avian schistosomiasis and human cercarial dermatitis. methods: one hundred ninety two snails collected from dezful areas in khuzestan province, in the south west...

Cercarial dermatitis (swimmer's itch) is caused by the penetration of human skin by cercariae of schistosome parasites that develop in and are released from snail hosts. Cercarial dermatitis is frequently acquired in freshwater habitats, and less commonly in marine or estuarine waters. To investigate reports of a dermatitis outbreak in San Francisco Bay, California, we surveyed local snails for...

Recently we developed the genus-specific markers of the avian schistosomes of the genus Trichobilharzia, the causative agents of human cercarial dermatitis. The 7 novel genome sequences of T. franki, T. regenti, and T. szidati revealed similarity with genome repeat region of African schistosome Schistosoma mansoni. In the present work we analyzed the 37 new T. szidati sequences to study intrage...

Bird schistosomes, besides being responsible for bird schistosomiasis, are known as causative agents of cercarial dermatitis. Cercarial dermatitis develops after repeated contact with cercariae, mainly of the genus Trichobilharzia, and was described as a type I, immediate hypersensitivity response, followed by a late phase reaction. The immune response is Th2 polarized. Primary infection leads ...

P arasites that live in intimate contact with the immune system of their hosts require specialized adaptations to survive in such exposed environments. Once adapted to these demanding environments, it seems such parasites could not easily switch to distantly related hosts [1], and, thus, would be good candidates to diversify congruently with their hosts, i.e., cospeciation. One of the best-know...