Egg of Schistosoma japonicum in ascitic fluid
Okuyama, T.; Imai, S.; Tsubura, Y.
Acta Cytologica 29(4): 651-652
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5547 PMID: 3861060 Document Number: 263289
An 82-year-old Japanese woman was admitted to Nara Medical University Hospital, Japan, in January 1980 because of ascites. On laboratory examination cirrhosis of the liver was diagnosed. Examination of ascitic fluid smears revealed an ovum of a parasite. The patient died on March 4th, 1980. Necropsy revealed that the liver, which weighed 550 g, had a nodular and lobulated macroscopic appearance. Microscopically the liver was cirrhotic. The fibrous areas contained many calcified ova which were identified as S. japonicum ova. Embolic ova were also found in the lungs and the duodenal submucosa. The patient had worked as an agricultural labourer in an endemic area of schistosomiasis 60 years previously.