The Life Cycle of Schistosoma Mansoni (film)

Abstract

This short movie is intended primarily as an introduction for lectures or small group conferences with students of medicine, nursing, public health or of other health and biologic sciences, as well as for physician audiences. It is not meant to be a self-contained compendium of schistosome biology; lay groups may have some trouble with the terminology used in the narration, and workers familiar with schistosomiasis will not be shown much they do not already know. However, the film is both factual and visually attractive and should fulfill its intended role admirably well. The film is introduced and punctuated by colorful pictures of the river Nile and of its people, then shifts to shots of live vector snails, cercariae, schistosomula, adult worms, eggs and miracidia in succession. These dramatic live shots alternate with fixed light- and electron microscopic images and with explanatory animated sequences as the narrative flows through successive schistosome life stages and transitions.