Schistosoma

Part of the class Trematoda, Schistosoma —commonly known as the blood-fluke— is “the most important human parasite from a world health perspective” (Gilbertson, 1999. It has four main species: Schistosoma mansoni or else known as Manson’s blood fluke or swamp fever, found AFrica, Brazil, Venezuela, Surian, the lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. S. japonicum whose common name is simply blood fluke, found widely spread in Eastern Asia and the southwestern Pacific. In Taiwan, this specie only affects animals, not humans. S. mekongi is related to the S. japonicum, in which affect both superior and inferior mesenteric veins. S. mekongi differs in that it has smaller eggs, a different intermediate host, and longer prepatent period in the mammalian host. Finally S .haematobium that is referred to as the bladder fluke, originally founf in Africa, the Near East, and the Mediteranean basin, was introduced into India during World War II. S. indicum, S. nasale, S. leiperi are parasites of ruminants. Trematoda is one of the four classes of the phylum Platyhelminthes; the others being Turbelleria, Monogenea and Cestoda. Members of the phylum Platyhelminthes are soft bodied animals with no body cavity (aceolomates) characterized by bilateral symmetry, cephalization, and are triploblastic. Flatworms are also hermaphroditic in wchi case a single animal is both a male and a female, producing sperms and eggs at the same time. Because of their thin bodies, flatworms don’t need any circulatory or respiratory systems; these functions are carried on by simple diffusion through their body wall. Also, they possess “protonephredia, [nephridial] organs that function in osmoregulation and disposal of metabolic wastes.” (Solomon 2002). In her book The Management of Schistosomiasis, Patricia L. Rosenfield reports that in the case of S. haematobium, the adult worm lives in the venules on the wall of the human bladder (and rectum), while the adult S. mansoni and S. japonicum inhabit the blood vessels of the human large intestine (p.1), in the venules of the colon. Unlike all the other trematodes however, schistosomes are diecious in that the sexes are separate, and “the smaller female lies in the canal of the male where they are in permanent copulation.” (Gilbertson, 1999).

Their life cycle can be portrayed as follow:
1. Diagnostic stage:
  “In this stage, the adult blood fluke lay eggs that develop and leave the human host through the feces and urine. Miracidia (ciliate larvae) hatch from the eggs in freshwater and each miracidium enters appropriate species of snail, who will be the intermediate host. This miracidium will form a mother sporocyst that will produce many daughter sporocysts. The daughters enclose many developing larvae called cercariae (see above picture) that will break out of the daughter cell to leave the snail and become a free-swimming cercariae. Then, it will enter the next stage of the life-cycle.”(Leventhal and Cheadle, 2002).
2. Infective stage:
  “The stage begins when the cercariae penetrates the skin of a human being; it leaves its tail behind and become a schistosomule.”(Leventhal and Cheadle, 2002). “This schistosomule will enter the bloodstream to migrate through the blood vessels to the appropriate site. The schistosomule will migrate to the lungs then to the liver, where the adults will mate, and in the case of S. japonicum and S. mansoni migrate to mesenterics and live in the mesenteric venules; as for S. haematobium, the adults will migrate to the bladder, where they will live in the venous plexus.”(Despommier, 1995.

And the cycle goes round in a vicious circle. The tissues are severly damaged by the presence of schistosomes (adult and eggs) in the veins for they will “hemorrhage, become inflamed, fibrotic and will be unable to function normally. The damage to the small intestine (or urinary bladder) and liver accumulate over time and result in a chronic, disabling disease that can be fatal.” (http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/home.html). “In addition, severe complication such as cirrhosis of the liver, cancer of the bladder, and central nervous system disorders may occur in humans affected with high worm loads.” (Rosenfield, 1979)

Treatment

Chemotherapy has been both difficult and dangerous, however, drugs have become available that promise effective conrtol. Praziquantel, for example, with a 1-day oral administration is well tolerated and reportedly attains 95% cure of all schistosomes of humans at any stage of development.

“Adult schistosomes have a basic bilateral symmetry; suckers; a body covering which is a syncytial integument with the sunken cytons; a blind alimentary system consisting of mouth, oesophagus and bifurcated caeca; the area between the integument and alimentary canal filled with a loose cellular network; musculature of circular, oblique, longitudinal and special fibers; and an excretory or osmoregulation system based on flame cells (protonephridia).” (Stirewalt, 1973). "The three types of schistosomes feed on hemoglobin that they split apart with the help of enzymes. They digest the hemoglobin portion, and regurgitate the heme moiety as pigment into the bloodstream. They absorb low-molecular weight nutrients such as free amino acids and sugars by active transport through the tegumental surface and store glycogen as a reserve source of energy. Their energy metabolism is facilitated largely through glycolysis.” (Despommier, 1995)

Their Taxonomy levels are as follow:

Kingdom: Animalia; Eukaryotes, multicellular heterotrophs, differentiated cells, complex organ systems, nervous sytem. (ie: mammals, sponges, insects)
- Phylum: Platyhelminthes; Flatworms, bilateral symmetry, tripoblastic, soft body, acoelomates, 20000 species in 4 classes
  - Subphylum: Euplatyhelminthes
    - Superclass: Rabdotiphora; 2 hosts, eudoparasites
      - Class: Trematoda; monoecious or dioecious
        Subclass: Digenea
        Order: Strigeiformes
        Genus: Schistosoma; Dioecious, blood flukes
        Species: S.japonicum, S. mansoni, S. haematobium, S. mekongi

Commercial Usage: Schistosoma

Photo Album: Schistosoma

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni. Indirect fluorescent antibody stain. Parasite.Credit: CDC.		Dermis of C57Bl/6 mouse shows Schistosoma mansoni schistosomulum and a diffuse eosinophil-rich inflammatory cell infiltrate 12 hrs post exposure to normal S. mansoni cercariae. Histopathology, parasite.Credit: CDC.
	12 hrs post exposure to normal S. mansoni cercariae, dermis of vaccinated C57Bl/6 mouse shows dead Schistosoma mansoni schistosomulum surrounded by an intense eosinophil-rich inflammatory cell infiltrate. Histopathology, parasite.Credit: CDC.		Two Schistosoma mansoni schistosomula at 12 hrs post exposure to S. mansoni cercariae in a C57Bl/6 mouse. Histopathology, parasite.Credit: CDC.
	Histopathology of bladder shows eggs of Schistosoma haematobium surrounded by intense infiltrates of eosinophils and other inflammatory cells. Parasitel.Credit: CDC.		Egg of Schistosoma haematobium. Parasite.Credit: CDC.
	Male and female Schistosoma mansoni in copula, transverse section. Indirect fluorescent antibody stain. Parasite.Credit: CDC.		Schistosoma japonicum egg, unstained. Parasite.Credit: CDC.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Non-Fiction Usage: Schistosoma

Expressions: Schistosoma

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Schistosoma

Modern Translations: Schistosoma

Derivations: Schistosoma

Anagrams: Schistosoma

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-h-i-m-o-o-s-s-s-t"
	-1 letter: masochists.
	-2 letters: masochist, massicots.
	-3 letters: chamisos, coassist, cosmists, isotachs, massicot, miscasts, scotomas, stomachs, tachisms.
	-4 letters: atomics, cahoots, cashoos, chamiso, chamois, chassis, chiasms, cohosts, cosmist, isotach, mascots, mastics, misacts, miscast, mosaics, oomiacs, osmatic, osmosis, osmotic, ostosis, schisms, schists, schmoos, scotias, scotoma, shamois, sitcoms, smooths, somatic, stomach, tachism.
	-5 letters: ascots, assist, atomic, cahoot, cashoo, cassis, chasms, chiasm, coasts, coatis, cohost, cosmos, hoists, hostas, machos, maists, mascot, mastic, misact, mochas, mosaic, oomiac, osmics, schism, schist, schmos, scoots, scotia, shamos, shists, shoats, shoots, sitcom, smiths, smooch, smooth, sooths, stasis, stichs, stoics, stomas.
	Words containing the letters "a-c-h-i-m-o-o-s-s-s-t"
	+1 letter: schistosomal.
	+2 letters: sadomasochist.
	+3 letters: psychosomatics, sadomasochists.
	+4 letters: sadomasochistic, schistosomiases, schistosomiasis, schoolmasterish.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Alternative Orthography: Schistosoma

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

53 63 68 69 73 74 6F 73 6F 6D 61

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

⁼

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

... -.-. .... .. ... - --- ... --- -- .-

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01010011 01100011 01101000 01101001 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100001

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#83 &#99 &#104 &#105 &#115 &#116 &#111 &#115 &#111 &#109 &#97

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0053 0063 0068 0069 0073 0074 006F 0073 006F 006D 0061

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Domain	Definitions
Health	A genus of trematode flukes belonging to the family Schistosomatidae. There are over a dozen species. These parasites are found in man and other mammals. Snails are the intermediate hosts. (references)
Medicine	A genus of blood flukes. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Schistosoma Mansoni: The Parasite Surface in Relation to Host Immunity (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Eggs can be present in the stool in infections with all Schistosoma species. (references)
		Infection with Schistosoma mansoni, S. haematobium, and S. japonicum causes illness in humans. (references)
		Fresh water becomes contaminated by Schistosoma eggs when infected people urinate or defecate in the water. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Expression	Frequency per Day
schistosoma	24
schistosoma mansoni	14
schistosoma japonicum	5
schistosoma haematobium	4
bovis schistosoma	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language		Translations for "Schistosoma"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Danish		schistosoma (paired flukes), bilharzia-ikte. (various references)

Dutch		Schistosoma (paired flukes). (various references)

French		schistosome. (various references)

German		Schistosoma. (various references)

Italian		schistosoma. (various references)

Pig Latin		istosomaschay
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Expressions using "Schistosoma": genus Schistosoma ♦ Schistosoma haematobium ♦ Schistosoma japonicum ♦ Schistosoma mansoni. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "Schistosoma": schistosomal. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Schistosoma

Definition: Schistosoma

Schistosoma

Noun

Specialty Definitions: Schistosoma

Health

Medicine

Specialty Definition: Schistosoma

Synonym: Schistosoma

Crosswords: Schistosoma

Commercial Usage: Schistosoma

Books

Photo Album: Schistosoma

Non-Fiction Usage: Schistosoma

Health

Expressions: Schistosoma

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Schistosoma

schistosoma

schistosoma mansoni

schistosoma japonicum

schistosoma haematobium

bovis schistosoma

Modern Translations: Schistosoma

Danish

Dutch

French

German

Italian

Pig Latin

Derivations: Schistosoma

Derivations

Anagrams: Schistosoma

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: Schistosoma

53 63 68 69 73 74 6F 73 6F 6D 61

... -.-. .... .. ... - --- ... --- -- .-

01010011 01100011 01101000 01101001 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110011 01101111 01101101 01100001

&#83 &#99 &#104 &#105 &#115 &#116 &#111 &#115 &#111 &#109 &#97

0053 0063 0068 0069 0073 0074 006F 0073 006F 006D 0061

5369747585868185817967

INDEX