Failure of Schistosoma mansoni to reinfect Biomphalaria glabrata snails: acquired humoral resistance or intra-specific larval antagonism?

Failure of snail reinfection by Schistosoma mansoni has been demonstrated in susceptible Biomphalaria glabrata infected with 1 miracidium and subsequently re-exposed to 1 or 5 homologous parasite larvae. The acquisition of 'resistance' to secondary parasite infection was time dependent since complete inhibition was observed at 2 weeks and longer following monomiracidial exposure. This phenomenon was still observed in snails challenged 8 weeks after primary infection. Histological observations revealed that sporocysts from the challenge infection were free of encapsulation, their development was stopped and they degenerated slowly in the absence of haemocytic reaction of the host. Under the hypothesis of an acquired homologous resistance mechanism, this strongly suggests that 1 or several unidentified humoral factors are responsible for the non-development of the sporocysts from the challenge infection. However, considering the time-dependent nature of the phenomenon, an intraspecific larval antagonism process between sporocysts resulting from the primary infection and those from the challenge infection may be involved.