[Schistosoma mansoni: a study of pathogenesis of Santa Rosa strain (Campinas, SP, Brasil) in mice].

The present paper reports the comparison between a newly isolated strain of S. mansoni in the city of Campinas (SP, Brazil) named SR, with the strains BH (Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil) and SJ (São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil). The study was done using mice experimentally infected with 70 cercariae from sympatric snails: B. glabrata for the BH strain and B. tenagophila for the SJ and SR strains. The data obtained revealed that the new strain is less pathogenic than the other two, since it yielded fewer worms and shed eggs, a lower number of granulomas and a smaller granuloma size in the liver and intestine.