Schistosomiasis is a disease that results from schistosome infestation. Schistosomes are trematode worms and are parasites that inhabit the urinary or mesenteric blood vessels of their definitive hosts. The signs and symptoms include poor growth, bloody stool or urine, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. The possible complications of the disease include infertility, kidney failure, liver damage, squamous cell carcinoma, etc. There are many forms of schistosomiasis based on the species causing the disease: schistosomiasis japonicum, schistosomiasis haematobium, schistosomiasis intercalatum, schistosomiasis mansoni, and schistosomiasis mekongi.
Schsitosomiasis intercalatum is a schistosomiasis caused particularly by Schistosoma intercalatum. The symptoms include cercarial dermatitis associated with the invasion of the cercariae of the host's skin, mild dysentery (bloody stool), and abdominal pains, with enlargement of the spleen and liver. The immune response of the host is triggered by the presence of the schistosome eggs. It is also because of the immune reaction that results in the bloody stool due to inflammation, hypertrophy, and ulceration of the mucosa.1
1 Yamada, T., Alpers, D. H., Kalloo, A. N., Kaplowitz, N., Owyang, C., Powell, D. W., editors (2008). Textbook of Gastroenterology. 5th ed. Hoboken (NJ): Wiley-Blackwell. Parasitic diseases: helminths; p. 2651-2671.