Dear colleagues,
I happen to review a few papers for our Indian
scientific journals including those of Parasitology. A
few papers pertained to schistosomiasis from African
countries where the disease is existing both in man
and animals. Vetting of the papers indicated that some
laboratories are following old methodology for
studying experimental schistosomiasis. Thus they are
killing mice and recovering the blood flukes without
use of perfusion technique/ anticoagulants. Formalin
fixed intestine /liver pieces are being used to assess
oogram, granuloma, live and dead eggs etc.
PERFUSION TECHNIQUE
These facts surprised me as long back(in 1978) we have
shown entangling of blood flukes in blood clots if
anticoagulants are not used; developed a simple
perfusion technique for laboratory animals using
automatic pipetting machine .
EGGS PER SQUARE CM AREA OF LIVER
We have developed a simple method where a single slide
of fresh liver piece may be used simultaneously for
knowing egg concentration per square cm of liver/ live
and dead eggs, granuloma number and their size.
INFECTING DOMESTIC ANIMALS
For domestic animals like pigs ,sheep and goats we
have developed a polythene pinna technique for
infecting them with accurate number of schistosome
cercariae (without sedation),
PERFUSION WITH VERTICAL WATER PUMP used a vertical
water pump , instead of a peristaltic pump , for
perfusing the animals , thus reducing the cost of
operation.
BREEDING AND INFECTING SNAILS
We have developed a simple method of breeding and
infecting snails with the schistosome miracidia where
no daily care is needed .Our method is used for
producing large number of infected snails.
The techniques were the result of our thirty five
years devotion to Indian schistosomes and
schistosomiasis. Certainly these techniques are of
great importance to the laboratories who are working
on schistosomes and schistosomiasis. Presently, I am
working as Emeritus Scientist of Indian Council of
Agriculture Research on the scheme “Control of
schistosomiasis under field conditions” where I am
evaluating triclabendazole in curing the infection etc
Those who are desirous of taking my consultancy/
advice in the matter , may feel free to contact me .
Dr Mahesh Chandra Agrawal
MVSc(Gold Medalist),Ph.D.,FZSI,FIAAVP,FNAVS
Former ICAR National Fellow and Dean Vety
College,Jabalpur
Emeritus Scientist,ICAR
College of Veterinary Science and AH
Jawaharlal Nehru Agriculture University
Jabalpur 482001,M.P. India
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