TREMATODES OF THE BLOOD VESSELS - THE SCHISTOSOMATIDAE
A single group of trematodes parasitize the blood vessels of cats and other mammals. These are the schistosomes. There are three species of schistosomes that are of major importance in human medicine, Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma haematobium, and Schistosoma japonicum. Only one of these three species, Schistosoma japonicum is capable of developing in a wide range of hosts which includes the cat. In the Americas, the indigenous schistosome parasite of raccoons, opossums, and other wild mammals, Heterobilharzia americana, is capable of infecting the cat experimentally. Orientobilharzia turkestanicum is a parasite of cattle in the middle east and southern Russia; it has on rare occasions been reported from cats in these areas.