Table 1.

Classification of acute forms of schistosomiasis.

Types of Presentations	Clinical Manifestations
Swimmer’s itch	Local inflammation of the cercariae entry zone, most frequently caused by non-human pathogenic species that cannot migrate
Cercarial dermatitis	Maculopapular skin rash. It develops in previously sensitized people when they are reinfected by non-human pathogenic species
Katayama syndrome	Delayed systemic hypersensitivity reaction (3 and 8 weeks after exposure) It affects more than 50% of infected people. Fever, arthralgia, and cutaneous vasculitis and eosinophilia are the most common clinical manifestations. Spontaneous resolution after 2 to 10 weeks A minority develop persistent disease (weight loss, dyspnoea and diarrhoea, abdominal pain, hepatosplenomegaly)
Pulmonary form	Pulmonary symptoms resulting from the systemic immunoallergic reaction of acute schistosomiasis in non-immune patients. It presents as dyspnoea, bronchospasm, productive cough, haemoptysis, and/or chest pain, which may appear in isolation or within the clinical picture of Katayama fever