SCHISTOSOMIASIS IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS * 
By Marta Paz MENDOZA-GUAZON 
Of the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology, College of Medicine and 
3 Surgery, University of the Philippines 
FIVE PLATES 
Schistosomiasis is considered as being of very infrequent 
occurrence among natives of the Philippine Islands, and its en- 
demic nature has not been established. Up to the present only 
two cases of infection with Schistosoma japonicum had been 
reported at autopsy, one by Woolley (35) and the other by Phalen 
and Nichols.(31) It might be mentioned that Garrison(15) and 
Willets(34) have seen the ova of S. japonicum a number of times 
in their routine examinations of stools. Study of some post- 
mortem cases in our department of pathology and bacteriology 
has enabled us to report ten more instances of this infection in 
native Filipinos who have never been out of this country. 
It is the purpose of this paper to give a general survey of the 
life history of S. japonicum and an account of the pathology 
and morbid anatomy of schistosomiasis in man, in addition to 
the-case reports. 
LIFE HISTORY OF SCHISTOSOMA JAPONICUM 
The eggs in utero are,soft, and vary in number from 50 to 
300(2) (Plate 5, fig. 1). Extra-utero they are oval, faintly yel- 
low, and double contoured, 83.5 by 62.5 », and have small lateral 
spines or thickenings, and at the opposite side caplike thickenings 
(Plate 5, fig. 3). In the opinion of Cort(7) the spines are vari- 
able and not of specific value. He noted that the surface of the 
shells of the eggs appeared to be covered with some sort of sticky 
substance and that the miracidia (larvee) were motionless and 
completely filled the shells when examined fresh from the feces; 
however, when placed in water the eggs begin to swell, leaving 
a considerable space between the miracidium and the shell filled 
with granules and oil globules extruded from the anterior ducts 
of the miracidium. ‘The ciliated miracidium becomes active, 
1 Read before the Fifth Assembly of Physicians and Pharmacists, Manila, 
February 7, 1922. 
535 
