Brain schistosomiasis in mice experimentally infected with Schistosoma mansoni.

INTRODUCTION

Human neuroschistosomiasis has been reported in the literature, but the possibility of modeling neuroschistosomiasis in mice is controversial.

METHODS

In two research laboratories in Brazil that maintain the Schistosoma mansoni life cycle in rodents, two mice developed signs of brain disease (hemiplegia and spinning), and both were autopsied.

RESULTS

S. mansoni eggs, both with and without granuloma formation, were observed in the brain and meninges of both mice by optical microscopy.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first description of eggs in the brains of symptomatic mice that were experimentally infected with S. mansoni. An investigation of experimental neuroschistosomiasis is now feasible.