150
Schistosomes and Schistosomiasis in India
which. Bomford observed in 1886 were those of Schistosoma indicum.
The dimensions of the egg also corroborate this suggestion. This was
followed by a long interval of two decades which was noteworthy for the
absence of any records of schistosomes of domestic animals in this country.
In 1906 appeared two memorable contributions from this Institute by Mont-
gomery who described Orinthobilharzia bomfordi and Schistosoma spindalis
from the portal circulation of cattle and S. indicum from that of the horse,
donkey and sheep. Montgomery described all the symptoms and the patho-
logical changes brought about by these worms in their respective hosts. He
also recorded S. bovis from sheep in Bareilly and Lahore districts. He was
of the opinion that S. bovis set up no pathological changes in sheep, but in the
infection of sheep with S. indicum the alimentary canal from the pylorus
to the margin of the anus is studded with small areas of distinct punctiform
haemorrhages. Our recent observations at this Institute in the latter res-
pect are in keeping with those of Montgomery. In some areas in this country,
particularly Sind, Punjab, Assam and Bihar, there exists a condition of
ovines known locally as gillar or phet characterised by persistent diarrhoea
and oedematous swelling about the face. Examination of portions of intes-
tine of sheep suffering from this disease received from Karachi revealed that
the entire intestinal canal was studded with nodules which contained Schisto-
soma indicum worms and their ova. Baldrey's observations in 1906 at Lahore
also corroborated this fact.
It has already been remarked that Montgomery described S. indicum
and S. spindalis, and Bhalerao [1932] published more important data regard-
ing the structure and the variations occurring in these worms. Liston and
Soparkar in 1918 worked out the life-cycle of S. spindalis by artificially infect-
ing a kid with the furcocerous cercaria liberated by the snail, Indoplanorbis
exustus and by infecting snails with the miracidia hatched out of the spindle-
shaped eggs obtained from a goat. Soparkar in 1921 published a detailed
description of the cercaria of S. spindalis.
There exists in this country a peculiar snoring disease of cattle in which
cauliflower-like growths are developed on the nasal septum. Malkani in 1932
published a short note on the etiology of this condition declaring that it is
a form of nasal schistosomiasis. The same year Datta [1932] published a
paper giving exhaustive details about the symptoms and the histopathology
of the morbid tissue. In the succeeding year Rao and Malkani [1933] pub-
lished their own observations on the symptomology and the histopathology
and other aspects of the disease. The question of the identity of the para-
site was taken up by three workers in India : Bhalerao, Malkani and Rao. On
the ground that the species S. spindalis is subject to many variations Bhalerao
regarded the nasal schistosoma as a mere variety of S. spindalis, but he, being
averse to the principle of multiplication of varieties within the range of the
same species, abstained from assigning it a new variety name. Malkani,
however, accomplished this and designated the †nasal schistosome as S.
† This term is used merely for the sake of convenience.