Clinical and pathologic features of experimental Schistosoma japonicum infection in pigs

Nine piglets, 2-5 months old and weighing 12-15 kg were infected percutaneously with 5000 to 6000 cercariae of Schistosoma japonicum. Three similar piglets which were not infected served as controls. Infected animals were necropsied at 5, 10, 30, 40, 59, 90, 120, 150 and 180 days post-infection (PI) and the controls at 5, 60 and 180 days PI. The prepatent period varied from 27 to 33 days after infection. Clinical signs observed, coincident with egg production, were loss of appetite, lethargy, pallor of mucous membranes, diarrhea, progressive emaciation and dehydration. One piglet was moribund when killed for necropsy at 40 days and another piglet died 59 days PI. Pathological changes induced by S. japonicum included erythematous papules on the site of inoculation, petechial hemorrhages in the lungs, catarrhal to hemorrhagic enteritis, bluish-gray discoloration of the liver, and egg granulomas in the liver, lungs, spleen, intestines, pancreas and mesenteric lymph nodes. Endophlebitis with intimal hyperplasia was occasionally observed in veins harboring adult schistosomes.