Life cycle
Intermediate host
After the eggs of the human-dwelling parasite are emitted in the faeces and into the water, the ripe miracidium hatches out of the egg. The hatching happens in response to temperature, light and dilution of faeces with water. The miracidium searches for a suitable freshwater snail belonging to the genus Biomphalaria. In South America, the principal intermediate host is Biomphalaria glabrata, while B. straminea and B. tenagophila are less common. A land snail Achatina fulica was reported in 2010 to act as a host in Venezuela. In Africa, B. glabratra, B. pfeifferi, B. choanomphala and B. sudanica act as the hosts; but in Egypt, the main snail host is B. alexandrina.Miracidia directly penetrate the soft tissue of snail. Inside the snail, they lose their cilia and develop into mother sporocysts. The sporocysts rapidly multiply by asexual reproduction, each forming numerous daughter sporocysts. The daughter sporocysts move to the liver and gonads of the snail, where they undergo further growth. Within 2–4 weeks, they undergo metamorphosis and give rise to fork-tailed cercariae. Stimulated by light, hundreds of cercariae penetrate out of the snail into water. Definitive host
The cercaria emerge from the snail during daylight and they propel themselves in water with the aid of their bifurcated tail, actively seeking out their final host. In water, they can live for up to 12 hours, and their maximum infectivity is between 1 and 9 hours after emergence. When they recognise human skin, they penetrate it within a very short time.
Its internal body is almost fully filled with glycogen particles and vesicles.The cercaria has a characteristic bifurcated tail, classically called furcae (Latin for fork); hence, the name (derived from a Greek word κέρκος, kerkos, meaning tail). The tail is highly flexible and its beating propels the cercaria in water. It is about 0.2 mm long and 47 μm wide, somewhat loosely attached to the main body. The body is pear-shaped and measures 0.24 mm in length and 0.1 mm in width. Its tegument is fully covered with spine. A conspicuous oral sucker is at the apex. As a non-feeding larva, there are no elaborate digestive organs, only oesophagus is distinct. There are three pairs of mucin glands connected to laterally to the oral sucker at the region of the ventral sucker. Physiology
Feeding and nutrition
Developing Schistosoma mansoni worms that have infected their definitive hosts, prior to the sexual pairing of males and females, require a nutrient source in order to properly develop from cercariae to adults. The developing parasites lyse host red blood cells to gain access to nutrients and also makes its own fungi from its waste it is hard to detect; the hemoglobin and amino acids the blood cells contain can be used by the worm to form proteins. While hemoglobin is digested intracellularly, initiated by salivary gland enzymes, iron waste products cannot be used by the worms, and are typically discarded via regurgitation.Kasschau et al.