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A. A. SANDOSHAM 
spindle-shaped eggs found in the faeces or urine, have been diagnosed as being due to 5 . spindale 
or some very closely related species, and concludes with a warning, “As a potential human 
parasite, therefore, S. spindale must be regarded with suspicion, especially in localities where 
man, the accidental host, is in close association with normal hosts such as the buffalo and is 
frequently exposed to infection with this parasite.” The writer made a careful examination 
of the faeces and urine of a number of cases from this district but failed to find any Schistosome 
eggs. 
Penner (1941) who discusses this problem makes the following observation, “ Attention 
should be called to the fact that Cercaria douthitti , now shown for the first time to penetrate and 
migrate through to the lungs, might also go at least this far in man, and particularly in children 
who swim in infected areas. Whether this worm can go further than the lungs is not known. 
That the entrance of this species of larval trematode into the lungs might carry infections 
mechanically from the outside is of potential importance and in the infested areas where wading 
or swimming is done, may constitute a public health problem not yet realised.” 
Summary 
The existence of cercarial dermatitis among the rice-cultivators of Malaya caused by a 
member of the “ Elvae group ” is recorded for the first time. 
The snail host is Lymnaea crosse ana Mabille. 
Unsuccessful attempts to infect two chickens with these cercariae are recorded. 
Biological and morphological features of the cercaria and sporcocyst are given briefly. 
The cercaria is provisionally named Cercaria malayi I. 
The probability of allergy playing a role in the causation of “ sawah-itch ” in Malaya is 
discussed. 
The negative findings in an examination of a number of paddy cultivators from this 
district for Schistosome eggs in the faeces and urine is recorded and attention is drawn to the 
possibility of infections being carried mechanically from the outside. 
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STUD. INST. MED. RES. 
