Schistosoma_spindale
Schistosoma spindale
Species of fluke
Schistosoma spindale is a species of digenetic trematode in the family Schistosomatidae. It causes intestinal schistosomiasis in the ruminants.
The distribution of Schistosoma spindale includes Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Thailand,[1] Malaysia, and Laos.[2]
The tegument of Schistosoma spindale under scanning electron microscope was studied in 1983.[3] It is non-tuberculated.[4]
The first intermediate host is a freshwater snail Indoplanorbis exustus[5] that may be the sole natural intermediate host for Schistosoma spindale (and other two Schistosoma species) on the Indian sub-continent.[5] One snail can produce up to 7,000 cercariae in one day.[1]
The cercariae usually infect some hairy host (low host specificity) in shallow and muddy waters.[1]
The definitive hosts of Schistosoma spindale are (mainly) ruminants and Schistosoma spindale cause intestinal schistosomiasis of ruminants (Artiodactyla, Ruminantia).[5] Surveillance for cattle schistosomiasis is generally inadequate and the literature is limited, but some idea of the problem can be gained from past small scale studies.[5] For a diagnosis there is need to find eggs of Schistosoma spindale in feces.[6] Surveys in Sri Lanka revealed prevalence of Schistosoma spindale of 31.2% (of 901 cattle),[6] whilst in Bangladesh a similarly high prevalence of 36% has been reported.[5][7] More recently, in Kerala South India, prevalences have been reported up to 57.3% in cattle, 50% in water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and 4.7% in goats.[5][8] The prevalence of Schistosoma spindale in the animals depends on the diagnostic test employed. Thus, it was as low as 10–30% by faecal examination (again low if egg detection method is employed and high if hatching method is followed) with as high as 80–95% by examining mesentery of the animals for live schistosomes during post mortem.[9][page needed] Schistosoma spindale was found causing an outbreak in cattle in Maharashtra leading to heavy mortality with symptoms similar to Rinder pest.[10]
Other hosts of Schistosoma spindale include:
- Bandicota indica[11][12]
- Rattus argentiventer[11]
- Rattus rattus diardii[11]
- Rattus tiomanicus jalorensis[11]
Schistosoma spindale has been implicated of human cercarial dermatitis in India[13] and in Malaysia.[11]