Schistosoma nasale

"Schistosoma nasale" was identified in 1933 by Dr. M. A. N. Rao at Madras Veterinary College, Tamil Nadu, India, as a casuasative agent for snoring disease in cattle. The parasite and the disease has been reviewed by Dr. M. C. Agrawal and Dr. V. S. Alwar in 1992, in "Helminthological Abstracts" (Volume 61, page 373 to 384).

The snail "Indoplanorbis exutus" is the intermediate host for the parasite. The disease affects almost the whole cattle population in the endemic area. The clinical symptoms include a cauliflower-like growth or granuloma in the nasale cavity, associated with a "snoring" sound and profuse mucopurulent discharge. Anthiomaline was the drug of choice, but this leads to relapse of the symptoms after two months of the treatment. Recently, Dr. M. C. Agrawal has successfully treated cases of nasal schistosomiasis by administering triclabendazole at a dosage of 20 mg/kg body weight.