Schistosoma - Blood Flukes - Pictures And Videos

Public health officials are hoping that recent scientific progress will lead to new treatments for schistosomiasis. Researchers completed the genetic blueprint of two species which cause schistosomiasis.

Informational slideshow about blood flukes with classical backround music.

Schistosoma mansoni male surrounding the thinner female. These adults are about 1 cm long. The dark matter in the gut of the worms is from blood digestion.

Immmature Schistosoma mansoni worms called schistosomula that have been grown for 6 days in a cell culture medium containing red blood corpuscles. The red-brown area in some of the worms indicates the position of the developing intestine and is due to the digestion of hemoglobin present in the red blood corpuscles which the worms feed on. Note how flexible the worms are as they curl, extend and contract.

Schistosoma mansoni sporocyst and eggs. On the left you see a pulsating mother sporocyst, at the top is an egg containing a miracidium and below to the right is an unembryonated egg. When the miracidium enters a snail the ciliated plates that allow it to swim are released (note the tiny circular objects) and it transforms itself into sporocyst.

Schistosoma mansoni moving around using it's suckers.