Schistosoma intercalatum infection in Syrian hamsters. An experimental and histopathological study
Elias, E.A.; van Wijk, H.B.; Elias, R.A.
Tropical and Geographical Medicine 32(4): 286-297
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0041-3232 PMID: 7210166 Document Number: 163361
Syrian hamsters aged 6 to 8 weeks were infected with 35, 75 or 175 cercariae of a Cameroun (Lower Guinea) strain of Schistosoma intercalatum and killed for histopathological examination after 70 days (140 days for one of the hamsters given 35 cercariae). Another group received 1500 cercariae and was killed after 48 days. For comparison, another group was infected with 1500 cercariae of S. mansoni and killed after 48 days. The animals infected with S. intercalatum showed a wider inflammatory response than seen in human infections and, unlike in humans, there was liver cell decay. However, the pathological changes were milder than in the hamsters with S. mansoni in which the liver cell decay, extension of the infection and size of the granulomatous lesions were much greater. Liver fibrosis was absent, even in the hamster infected for 140 days. The pigmentation in the spleen was more marked in the animals with S. intercalatum than in those with S. mansoni. Differences in the cellular reaction to the 2 infections were quantitative and not qualitative, and the reactions were not related to the intensity of infection (as judged by numbers of perfused worms).