A 20-year-old male patient presents to the OPD with complaints of fever, intermittent abdominal pain, and dysuria. He gives a history of swimming in the freshwater lake 10 days back. Urine microscopy shows the following. Which of the following is the causative agent?
The given clinical picture along with the history of swimming and the image showing egg which is non-operculated with the terminal spine at one pole are suggestive of infection with Schistosoma hematobium. The eggs of Schistosoma hematobium are ovoid, non-operculated, with a brownish-yellow transparent shell, carrying a terminal spine at one pole. Species differentiation of Schistosoma can be done based on the location of the spine as follows: Terminal spine: Schistosoma hematobium Lateral spine: Schistosoma mansoni Rudimentary lateral spine: Schistosoma japonicum Reference: Paniker&;s Textbook of Medical Parasitology 8th edition
Schistosoma mansoni
Schistosoma hematobium
Schistosoma japonicum
Schistosoma mekongi
miscellaneous