A study was conducted in Chengicherla slaughter house of Hyderabad to find the occurrence of Oesophagostomum worms, 594 oesophagostomum positive intestines were examined. Among these, three species of oesophagostomum worms were recovered viz., , and were identified by light microscopy as per the keys provided by Soulsby (Helminths, arthropods and protozoa of domesticated animals. Bailliere Tindall, London, 1982) and Singh (Veterinary helminthology. ICAR, Delhi, 2003).

Aim:Bovine visceral schistosomiasis has been reported as an important disease entity as it affects animal health, productivity, causes economic losses due to liver condemnation, and produces a high morbidity. This study was conducted to standardize an easy, reliable dot-enzyme-linked immmunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the diagnosis of visceral schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma spindale and to know the prevalence rate in and around Hyderabad.Materials and Methods:A dot-ELISA was standardized in the laboratory using whole worm antigen (WWA) and excretory-secretory antigen (ESA) of S. spindale. The standardized test was used for the diagnosis of bovine visceral schistosomiasis at field level. The sensitivity and specificity of the test was compared with counter current immunoelectrophoresis. In total, 288 sera (125 cattle and 163 buffalo) were screened by dot-ELISA.Results:The dot-ELISA detected 32.63% of infection (94/288) using WWA and 40.62% of infection (117/288) using ESA. In cattle, the prevalence rate was 32.80% (41/125) using WWA and 40.80% (51/125) of infection. Similarly, in buffaloes, the prevalence rate was 32.51% (53/163) using WWA and 40.49% (66/163) of infection using ESA. The overall sensitivity of dot-ELISA was 76.74% and 80.48% with WWA and ESA, respectively, and specificity was 73.3% and 78.57% in WWA and ESA, respectively.Conclusion:As ante-mortem diagnosis of visceral schistosomiasis is difficult in subclinical conditions, dot-ELISA can be used as a reliable immunodiagnostic test for diagnosis at field level.

The surface structure of three predominant intestinal helminth species of Oesophagostomum i.e., , and were studied with the help of scanning electron microscopy. has hook like bent structure anteriorly with well developed lateral cervical alae that are interrupted at several intervals. It has external corona radiata (ECR) and internal corona radiata (ICR), ECR comprises of 21 elements and ICR comprises two small elements to each element of ECR. Posterior end of male has bursa with well developed genital cone. On the other hand showed presence of 18 elements in ECR with each element containing two small elements internally constituting ICR. had three tier arrangement of the cephalic vesicle with 12 elements in ECR with each element containing two small elements in constituting ICR. Vagina of matured females is covered with copulatory cement.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the detailed morphological features along with morphometry of different structures of Schistosoma spindale (Adult flukes) which were recovered by a perfusion technique and visualized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The length of spines on the oral sucker and ventral suckers were 2.6 µm and 2.5 µm, respectively. The measured width of aspinose area beneath the ventral sucker, rim of the ventral sucker and tegumental papillae were 5.4, 22.5 µm and 3 µm, respectively. Males have a welldefined gynaecophoric canal, originating just below the ventral sucker and extending up to the posterior end of the body, continued as a marked conical projection. The ventral surface of the oral sucker was completely covered with numerous spines. The ventral sucker was pedunculated, round, thick-rimmed and the inner side contained numerously pointed spines directed towards the center of the ventral sucker. The tegument surface of S. spindale showed ridged layers with large uniciliated and pit like papillae which were recorded more in posterior end. Thus, Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) provided indepth ultrastructural morphological details of Schistosoma spindale which was in accordance with that of previous studies, would be applicable for its differentiation with other species (S. mansoni, S. bovis, S. haematobium, S. japonicum).