Die voorkoms van Schistosoma haematobiumeienskappe by sekere Suid-Afrikaanse populasies van Schistosoma mattheei (Trematoda : schistosomatidae)

Abstract

THE OCCURRENCE OF SCHISTOSOMA HAEMATOBIUM CHARACTERISTICS IN CERTAIN SOUTH AFRICAN POPULATIONS OF S. MATTHEEI (TREMATODA SCHISTOSOMATIDAE) Schistosoma mattheei ova were collected from cattle in the Eastern Transvaal, Northern Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Transvaal, as well as from buffalo and waterbuck in the Kruger National Park. Populations of the parasite were maintained in the laboratory by passage through the snail intermediate host, . Bulinus (Physopsis) globosus and the laboratory host Praomys (Mastomys) coucha. Ova produced by females of the laboratory -populations were compared with ova of a S. mattheei x S. haematobium hybrid of human origin. The results indicated that S. mattheei ova from populations which are sympatric to h haematotium, possess more S. haematobium-like characteristics than ova from an allopatric population. The teguments of adult males were studied by means of scanning electron microscopy. The tubercles on the teguments of males from the sympatric Eastern Transvaal and Northern Natal populations, as well as a population from the Eastern Cape, where formerly the two species co-existed, bore S. haematobium-like spines; the allopatric Western Transvaal and Kruger National Park populations, on the other hand, were spineless. It is suggested that the genepools of the sympatric populations of the parasite were infiltrated by S. haematobium genes via the S. mattheei x S. haematobium hybrid originating from human hosts.