Miracidal Hatching in the Diagnosis of Bilharziasis

Dr. Friedrick Fulleborn (1921) was the first worker to describe the hatching technique for the emergence of schistosome miracidia. Dr. Fulleborn (1866-1933) qualified in medicine at Berlin University and worked as Virchow’s voluntary assistant. He first made his mark as a zoologist, but became associated with the Institute of Tropical Medicine at Hamburg in 1901 after spending four years with the German Army. He later became the director and was an outstanding figure in German tropical medicine. He did pioneer work in the study of Schistosoma, Ancylostoma, Filaria and Strongy- loides — much of which belong to the classics. Essentially Fulleborn’s method for the preparation and hatching of stool specimens consisted of three to four washings of the stool specimen in a 3-4 per cent, sodium chloride solution. The specimen was allowed to sediment for five minutes in a conical flask between each ; washing. Samples were pipetted out on to a microscope slide for examination. Warm water (45°-50°C) was added to the remaining sediment in the conical flask and placed in the light. Very soon miracidia hatched out and these could be seen with a magnifying glass.

A CAJM article on diagnosis of bilharziasis.