''Schistosoma spindale'' is a species of

digenetic Digenea (Gr. ''Dis'' – double, ''Genos'' – race) is a class of trematodes in the Platyhelminthes phylum, consisting of parasitic flatworms (known as ''flukes'') with a syncytial tegument and, usually, two suckers, one ventral and one oral ...

trematode Trematoda is a class of flatworms known as flukes. They are obligate internal parasites with a complex life cycle requiring at least two hosts. The intermediate host, in which asexual reproduction occurs, is usually a snail. The definitive host ...

in the family

Schistosomatidae Schistosomatidae is a family of digenetic trematodes with complex parasitic life cycles. Immature developmental stages of schistosomes are found in molluscs and adults occur in vertebrates. The best studied group, the blood flukes of the genus ...

. It causes intestinal schistosomiasis in the ruminants. The distribution of ''Schistosoma spindale'' include Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, and Laos. The tegument of ''Schistosoma spindale'' under scanning electron microscope was studied in 1983. It is non-tuberculated (Gupta and Agrawal 2002 Comparative scanning electron microscopy of some Indian schistosomes. ''Journal of Parasitology and Applied Biology'' 11: 49–54). The first intermediate host is a freshwater snail ''

Indoplanorbis exustus ''Indoplanorbis'' is a genus of air-breathing freshwater snail. Its Monotypic taxon, only member species is ''Indoplanorbis exustus'', an aquatic animal, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family (biology), family Planorbidae, the sheep, ...

'' that may be the sole natural intermediate host for ''Schistosoma spindale'' (and other two ''Schistosoma'' species) on the Indian sub-continent. One snail can produce up to 7,000

cercariae Trematodes are parasitic flatworms of the class ''Trematoda'', specifically parasitic flukes with two suckers: one ventral and the other oral. Trematodes are covered by a tegument, that protects the organism from the environment by providing secr ...

in one day. Washing cows

The cercariae usually infect some hairy host (low host specificity) in shallow and muddy waters. The definitive hosts of ''Schistosoma spindale'' are (mainly) ruminants and ''Schistosoma spindale'' cause intestinal schistosomiasis of ruminants (

Artiodactyla The even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla , ) are ungulates—hoofed animals—which bear weight equally on two (an even number) of their five toes: the third and fourth. The other three toes are either present, absent, vestigial, or pointing poster ...

Ruminantia Ruminants ( suborder Ruminantia) are hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals that are able to acquire nutrients from plant-based food by fermenting it in a specialized stomach prior to digestion, principally through microbial actions. The ...

). Surveillance for cattle schistosomiasis is generally inadequate and the literature is limited, but some idea of the problem can be gained from past small scale studies. For a diagnosis there is need to find eggs of ''Schistosoma spindale'' in feces. Surveys in Sri Lanka revealed prevalence of ''Schistosoma spindale'' of 31.2% (of 901 cattle), whilst in Bangladesh a similarly high prevalence of 36% has been reported. More recently, in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

South India, prevalences have been reported up to 57.3% in

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

, 50% in

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...

(''Bubalus bubalis'') and 4.7% in

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

s. The prevalence of ''Schistosoma spindale'' in the animals depend on the diagnostic test employed. Thus, it was as low as 10–30% by faecal examination (again low if egg detection method is employed and high if hatching method is followed) with as high as 80–95% by examining mesentery of the animals, for alive schistosomes, during post mortem (Agrawal MC 2012. Schistosomes and schistosomiasis in South Asia. Springer (India) Pvt, Ltd, New Delhi). ''Schistosoma spindale'' was found causing an outbreak in cattle in Maharashtra leading to heavy mortality with symptoms similar to Rinder pest (Kulkarni HV, Rao SR and Chudhari PG 1954. Unusual outbreak of schistosomiasis in bovines due to ''Schistosoma spindale'' associated with heavy mortality in Bombay state. Bombay Veterinary college Magazine 4: 3–15). Other hosts of ''Schistosoma spindale'' include: * '' Bandicota indica'' * '' Rattus argentiventer'' * ''

Rattus rattus The black rat (''Rattus rattus''), also known as the roof rat, ship rat, or house rat, is a common long-tailed rodent of the stereotypical rat genus ''Rattus'', in the subfamily Murinae. It likely originated in the Indian subcontinent, but is ...

diardii'' * ''

Rattus tiomanicus The Malayan field rat, Malaysian field rat or Malaysian wood rat, (''Rattus tiomanicus'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is nocturnal and mainly arboreal and is found in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. It is ...

jalorensis'' ''Schistosoma spindale'' has been implicated of human

cercarial dermatitis Swimmer's itch, cercarial dermatitis or schistosome dermatitis is a short-term allergic contact dermatitis occurring in the skin of humans that have been infected by water-borne schistosomes, a type of flatworm. It is common in freshwater, bracki ...

in India and in Malaysia.

Cladogram

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

based on 18S ribosomal RNA, 28S ribosomal RNA, and partial cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) genes shows phylogenic relations of species in the genus ''Schistosoma'':

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference.

Cladogram

References

Further reading