For the last two decades, ultrasound (US) has been considered a surrogate for the gold standard in the evaluation of liver fibrosis in schistosomiasis. The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is not yet standardised for diagnosing and grading liver schistosomal fibrosis. The aim of this paper was to analyse MRI using an adaptation of World Health Organization (WHO) patterns for US assessment of schistosomiasis-related morbidity. US and MRI were independently performed in 60 patients (42.1 ± 13.4 years old), including 37 men and 23 women with schistosomiasis. Liver involvement appraised by US and MRI was classified according to the WHO protocol from patterns A-F. Agreement between image methods was evaluated by kappa index (k). The correlation between US and MRI was poor using WHO patterns [k = 0.14; confidence interval (CI) 0.02; 0.26]. Even after grouping image patterns as "A-D", "Dc-E" and "Ec-F", the correlation between US and MRI remained weak (k = 0.39; CI 0.21; 0.58). The magnetic resonance adaptation used in our study did not confirm US classification of WHO patterns for liver fibrosis.

Abdominal ultrasound (US) has been widely used in the evaluation of patients with schistosomiasis mansoni. It represents an important indirect method of diagnosis and classification of the disease, and it has also been used as a tool in the evaluation of therapeutic response and regression of fibrosis. We describe the case of a man in whom US showed solid evidence of schistosomal periportal fibrosis and magnetic resonance imaging revealed that periportal signal alteration corresponded to adipose tissue which entered the liver togheter with the portal vein.

Chemokines are a superfamily of low-molecular-weight cytokines that were initially described for their chemoattractant activity. It is now clear chemokines have several other activities that modulate immune processes. More than 50 chemokines ligands and at least 19 receptors have been described to date. Depending on the number of N-terminal cysteine residues, chemokines are grouped in the subfamilies CXC, CC, C or CX3C. A growing body of evidence suggests a role for chemokines in the pathogenesis of several inflammatory diseases. Our studies involving mice and humans infected with Schistosoma mansoni suggest an important role of the chemokine CCL3 and its receptors (CCR1 and CCR5) in the pathogenesis of severe schistosomiasis. We suggest that the differential activation of CCR1 or CCR5 during the course of schistosomiasis may dictate the outcome of the disease.

A group of experts on schistosomiasis and ultrasonography discussed the experiences and results obtained with the Niamey-Belo Horizonte Protocol on Ultrasonography in Schistosomiasis. A series of recomendations about qualitative and quantitative data obtained by ultrasound in studies performed in Africa and Brazil are presented. Imunological, genetic and epidemiological studies must rely on ultrasound for the identification of patients with periportal thickening/fibrosis.

Schistosomiasis is a disease whose pathology is strongly related to the granulomatous reaction formed around parasite eggs trapped in host tissues. Studies have shown that the chronic intestinal form (INT) of this infection is associated with a variety of immunoregulatory mechanisms which lead to a diminished granulomatous reaction. Using an in vitro model of granuloma reaction, we show that immune complexes (IC) isolated from sera of INT patients are able to reduce granulomatous reaction developed by peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from acute (AC), INT and hepatosplenic (HE) patients to soluble egg antigen (SEA)-conjugated polyacrylamide beads (PB-SEA). This inhibitory activity is also observed in cell proliferation assay of PBMC from INT and HE patients stimulated with SEA and adult worm antigen (SWAP). Furthermore, IC isolated from sera of patients with different clinical forms of the disease are also able to suppress INT patients PBMC reactivity. Therefore, our results show that circulating IC present in sera of patients with different clinical forms of schistosomiasis may down-regulate PBMC reactivity to parasite antigens resulting in a diminished granuloma reaction to parasite eggs