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Updated: Apr 21, 2026

Cercarial Transformation and in vitro Cultivation of Schistosoma mansoni Schistosomules
Published on: August 16, 2011
Schistosomes in South African penguins
Jitka A Aldhoun1, Elizabeth C Horne
1Parasites and Vectors, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, UK, j.aldhoun@gmail.com.
Abstract:
During the years 2009-2012, faeces of African penguins (Spheniscus demersus L.) from South African rehabilitation centres were examined for helminths. In total, 46 out 555 samples (8.29 %), mostly belonging to adult birds, were found to contain oval schistosome eggs with a spine on one pole. Their dimensions were 153.21 ± 9.07 × 87.14 ± 8.67 μm. Selected DNA fragments (18S, 28S and ITS rDNA) were sequenced and compared to other schistosome isolates deposited in GenBank. The shape of the eggs suggests that they belong to the genus Gigantobilharzia; however, due to the insufficient stage of knowledge of the genus and limited number of species available for comparison, we were not able to assign the isolate unambiguously to this genus based on either the egg morphology or the results of molecular analysis.
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