Courtesy of Beltran et al. (2008), PlosOne 3(10): e3328.
Pairs of adult schistosomes mate inside humans infected with schistosomiasis when a thin female worm nestles in the body groove of a sturdy male parasite. National Museum of Natural History scientist Bert Van Bocxlaer and an international team of researchers revealed that anthropogenic changes in Africa’s Lake Malaŵi are a driving force behind the increase of schistosomiasis, a debilitating tropical disease caused by parasitic flatworms that affects 250 million people worldwide and threatens 600 million more. (Courtesy of Beltran et al. (2008), PlosOne 3(10): e3328.)
