ABSTRACT
Schistosomiasis is an infection caused by digenetic trematode platyhelminths of the genus Schistosoma. 1,2 Man and other mammals are definitive and snails are intermediate hosts of Schistosoma. Five species of Schistosoma are important for man: S. mansoni, S. haematobium and S.japonicum are the most widely distributed, whereas S. intercalatum and S. mekongi occur only in a few countries of West and Central Africa and in the Mekong Delta (Laos and Cambodia), respectively. Two other species, S. mattheei and S. bov is, may infect man. S. bovis infection is rare and occurs in Central and Southern Africa, whereas S. mattheei is frequent in Southern Africa. The development of S. mattheei in man depends on the presence of S. haematobium and S. mansoni, and hybridization occurs between S. haematobium and S. mattheei.
