An infection with Septata intestinalis was diagnosed in a 35-year-old AIDS patient without diarrhoea. The diagnosis was based on morphological examinations of a duodenal biopsy specimen. Serum antibodies were detected reacting with spores of Encephalitozoon cuniculi. Spores of S. intestinalis and E. cuniculi stained with Brown Hopps Gram stain showed a red colour (Gram negative) and not a blue/black colour which was described for microsporidian spores in tissue.
The effect of exposure to miracidia of Schistosoma mansoni Sambon on mortality rates of five different age-groups of Biomphalarìa pfeifferi (Krauss) was investigated under carefully controlled conditions in the laboratory. The per capita mortality rates were determined for each age-group and the mean life expectancy and mean snail mortalities per week calculated. It was demonstrated that the cohorts of snails exposed to three miracidia per snail at an age of one week suffered the highest mortalities during the prepatent period and had the shortest life-span. No significant differences could be indicated in these respects between cohorts of snails exposed at an age of three, four and five weeks to the same number of miracidia. The results of this investigation could make a significant contribution towards establishing and maintaining laboratory cultures of S. mansoni.