Like lovers entwined …
Preliminary sketch for drawing to measure 1.5m x 1.5m.
The Schistosoma are a genus of trematodes (otherwise known as platyhelminthes, flatworms or ‘flukes’). Unlike other trematodes, the schistosomes are dioecious – i.e. the sexes are separate – yet the male surrounds the female and encloses her within his gynacophoric canal throughout the entire adult lives of the worms …
Commonly known as blood-flukes and bilharzia, schistosome worms are responsible for significant parasitic infection of humans (they infest and migrate through human blood vessels). Causing the disease schistosomiasis, they are considered by the World Health Association to be the second most socioeconomically devastating parasites; second only to malaria in their impact.
