It’s back to your regularly scheduled programming this week with an episode on schistosomiasis (aka bilharzia), that scourge both ancient and modern. We kick off the episode by walking you through the amazingly complex life cycle of these blood flukes and the myriad of symptoms they and their eggs can cause, including a “check out the reproductive output on this one!” moment. We then trace its early appearances in mummies (of course) and ancient writings, following that up with an overview of how imperialism drove the field of tropical medicine in its early days. To wrap up this wormy episode, we discuss the current, staggering numbers on schisto around the globe.
| History | Biology |
| Farley, John. Bilharzia: a history of imperial tropical medicine. Cambridge University Press, 2003. | McManus, Donald P., et al. “Schistosomiasis (Primer).” Nature Reviews: Disease Primers (2018). |
| Ferreira, Luiz Fernando, Karl Jan Reinhard, and Adauto Araújo. Foundations of paleoparasitology. Editora Fiocruz, 2014. | Colley, Daniel G., et al. “Human schistosomiasis.” The Lancet 383.9936 (2014): 2253-2264. |
| Littlewood, D. T. J., and Bonnie L. Webster. “Origins and evolutionary radiation of Schistosoma.” Schistosoma. CRC Press, 2017. 9-16. | Gryseels, Bruno, et al. “Human schistosomiasis.” The Lancet 368.9541 (2006): 1106-1118. |
| Bilharz, Theodore. “A contribution to human helminthology.” Reviews of Infectious Diseases 4.3 (1982): 727-732. | World Health Organization. “Schistosomiasis” https://www.who.int/schistosomiasis/en/ |
| Combes, Claude. “Where do human schistosomes come from? An evolutionary approach.” Trends in ecology & evolution 5.10 (1990): 334-337. | Tebeje, Biniam Mathewos, et al. “Schistosomiasis vaccines: where do we stand?.” Parasites & vectors 9.1 (2016): 528. |
| Derr, Jennifer L. “The Dirty Subject of the First World War.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 46.4 (2014): 781-783. | Hotez, Peter J., et al. “Advancing the development of a human schistosomiasis vaccine.” Trends in parasitology 35.2 (2019): 104-108. |
| Despres, Laurence, et al. “Molecular evidence linking hominid evolution to recent radiation of schistosomes (Platyhelminthes: Trematoda).” Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 1.4 (1992): 295-304. | Merrifield, Maureen, et al. “Advancing a vaccine to prevent human schistosomiasis.” Vaccine 34.26 (2016): 2988-2991. |
| Di Bella, Stefano, et al. “History of schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) in humans: from Egyptian medical papyri to molecular biology on mummies.” Pathogens and global health 112.5 (2018): 268-273. | De Neve, Jan-Walter, et al. “Health, financial, and education gains of investing in preventive chemotherapy for schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiases, and lymphatic filariasis in Madagascar: A modeling study.” PLoS neglected tropical diseases 12.12 (2018). |
| Farooq, Mohamed, and M. B. Mallah. “The behavioural pattern of social and religious water-contact activities in the Egypt-49 bilharziasis project area.” Bulletin of the World health Organization 35.3 (1966): 377. | Stensgaard, Anna-Sofie, et al. “Schistosomes, snails and climate change: Current trends and future expectations.” Acta tropica 190 (2019): 257-268. |
| Jordan, Peter. “From Katayama to the Dakhla Oasis: the beginning of epidemiology and control of bilharzia.” Acta tropica 77.1 (2000): 9-40. | French, Michael D., et al. “Estimation of changes in the force of infection for intestinal and urogenital schistosomiasis in countries with schistosomiasis control initiative-assisted programmes.” Parasites & vectors 8.1 (2015): 558. |
| Kloos, Helmut, and Rosalie David. “The paleoepidemiology of schistosomiasis in ancient Egypt.” Human Ecology Review (2002): 14-25. | |
| Mahmoud, A. A. “Schistosomiasis (bilharziasis): from antiquity to the present.” Infectious disease clinics of North America 18.2 (2004): 207-218. | |
| Sandbach, F. R. “The history of schistosomiasis research and policy for its control.” Medical history 20.3 (1976): 259-275. | |
| Stensgaard, Anna-Sofie, et al. “Schistosomes, snails and climate change: Current trends and future expectations.” Acta tropica 190 (2019): 257-268. | |
| Strickland, G. Thomas. “Liver disease in Egypt: hepatitis C superseded schistosomiasis as a result of iatrogenic and biological factors.” Hepatology 43.5 (2006): 915-922. |
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