Biochemical aspects of schistosome behaviour

Abstract

The haematophagous blood tiematodes that comprise the genus Schistosoma live in a stable environment with an adequate food supply and an efficient waste disposal system.

The main food is glucose obtained from the host blood and assimilated through the tegument Other dietary factors are assimilated through the tegument or the gut epithelium. The male fluke supplements and augments the diet of the female who is thus able to concentrate on egg production.

Live flukes resist attack by the host by secreting an immunologically inert envelope and by incorporating unchanged host serum protein into their structures. They can also incorporate host structural fatty acids unchanged.