Schistosomiasis

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Swimmer's itch

Antibodies

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Schistosomiasis

Alternative Names:

Bilharzia; Katayama fever; Swimmer's itch; Blood fluke

Symptoms:

Symptoms vary with the species of worm and the phase of infection.
Initial invasion of the skin may cause itching and a rash (swimmer's itch).
Heavy infestation may cause fever, chills, lymph node enlargement, and liver and spleen enlargement.
Urinary symptoms may include frequency, painful urination (dysuria), and blood in urine (hematuria).
Intestinal symptoms include abdominal pain and diarrhea (which may be bloody).

Signs and tests:

Test for schistosome eggs in urine
Test for schistosome eggs in stool
Biopsy of tissue suspected of having infection
Anemia
High eosinophil count in blood
Low platelets
Urinalysis
Antibody test

Review Date: 7/16/2004
Reviewed By: Daniel Levy, M.D., Ph.D., Infectious Diseases, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Baltimore, MD. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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