1979 Volume 26 Issue 1 Pages 1-9
In human cases and experimental animals of schistosomiasis japonica, schistosomal eggs are often detected in the lungs. On a derivation of the intrapulmonary eggs many reviews are reported. Though the major opinions are that they flow into the lungs from the portal vein and the hepatic vessels in which the flukes mainly inhabit, the route by which they reach the lungs is not known with certainty. In order to study the problem, rabbits were infected with cercariae of Schistosoma japonicum, and observed for 2 or 32 weeks thereafter, and histological specimens were cut into serious sections and stained, and then stereographical scrutiny was carried out by the sketching reconstruction method. Some worms lying within the pulmonary artery occasionally had mature eggs in their uterus, moreover, there were thrombi with eggs or egg nodules in its peripheral branch. These findings suggest with positive fact that the eggs in the lung are produced not only owing to an inflow from the portal vein, but also owing to a direct egg-laying in the lungs.