To date, most molecular investigations of schistosomatids have focused principally on blood flukes (schistosomes) of humans. Despite the clinical importance of cercarial dermatitis in humans caused by Trichobilharzia regenti and the serious neuropathologic disease that this parasite causes in its permissive avian hosts and accidental mammalian hosts, almost nothing is known about the molecular ...

In 2005, we dissected 102 wildfowl from the Czech Republic and 73 wildfowl from Poland including representatives of Anseriformes, Gruiformes and Gaviiformes. Schistosome infection was found in a total of 21 (29%) and 23 (23%) birds from Poland and the Czech Republic, respectively. All infected birds belonged to the order Anseriformes. The prevalences of nasal and visceral species were, respecti...

BACKGROUND Skin invasion is the initial step in infection of the human host by schistosome blood flukes. Schistosome larvae have the remarkable ability to overcome the physical and biochemical barriers present in skin in the absence of any mechanical trauma. While a serine peptidase with activity against insoluble elastin appears to be essential for this process in one species of schistosomes, ...

The invasive larvae (cercariae) of schistosomes penetrate the skin of their definitive hosts. During the invasion, they undergo dramatic ultrastructural and physiological transitions. These changes result in the development of the subsequent stage, schistosomulum, which migrates through host tissues in close contact with host's immune system. One of the striking changes in the transforming cerc...

Abstract Due to the increased prevalence of human infections with bird schistosome larvae (cercarial dermatitis) associated bathing in Danish lakes, a nationwide survey infected intermediate host snails was conducted 2018–2020. Pulmonate (10,225 specimens) were collected from 39 freshwater lakes (in four major geographic regions Denmark) and subjected shedding. Released cercariae isolated ident...

Trichobilharzia is a genus of threadlike schistosomes with a cosmopolitan distribution in birds. Species of Trichobilharzia achieve notoriety as major etiological agents of cercarial dermatitis, or swimmer's itch. There are 40 species described in the literature, for which the majority lacks molecular sequence information. To better understand the phylogenetic relationships, diversity, species ...