Schistosomiasis: Overview of the history, biology, clinicopathology, and laboratory diagnosis

Schistosomiasis, a disease caused by small parasitic blood flukes, has afflicted humankind for thousands of years. It affects approximately 200 million people worldwide and is the cause of significant morbidity. Diagnosis used to rest on finding the characteristic eggs in stool or urine samples; however, techniques based on the detection of antibodies and schistosomal antigens have become more popular in recent years and are continuing to increase in both sensitivity and specificity. Molecular biology techniques, such as PCR, are also being applied to schistosomal genome research and methods of detection.