The oogram as a sensitive method of assessing the effect of dietary deficiency on the parasite in experimental Schistosomiasis mansoni.

Effects of malnutrition on Schistosoma mansoni worms harbored by groups of chronically infected malnourished mice were assessed by four different methods: oogram technique, liver egg count, measurement of worm lengths and the number of surviving worms. Compared with the other methods the oogram technique showed several advantages. It seems to be the method of choice for conducting such studies at the chronic stages of the disease. Unlike other methods each of which offers only one parameter of measurement, it provides three parameters and is the only method that is apparently capable of detecting residual effect of severe malnutrition on the parasite under the experimental conditions. Since the oogram technique has not been in common use in nutritional studies, it is suggested that its use in combination with some of the existing measures would enhance the scope of findings from such studies.