First Complete Morphological Description of Schistosoma Reflexum in a Llama

Schistosoma reflexum (SR) is a lethal congenital malformation characterized by severe spinal retroflexion, thoracoabdominoschisis with visceral exposure. This case report aims to describe the morphology and pathology of SR in a llama. A white male llama (Lama glama) cria was delivered with dystocia following a normal gestation. Pathological examination revealed a severe U-shaped retroflexion of the spine, thoracolumbar scoliosis and sacral levoscoliosis, abdominoschisis, arthrogryposis, asymmetrical costal malformations, a ventricular septal defect and atresia recti and ani. Computed tomography (CT) of the eviscerated corpus confirmed the severe skeletal dysplasia, including retroflexion and levoscoliosis of the thoracolumbar and sacral spine, a cervical transitional vertebra, costal malformations and multiple angular limb deformities of hindlimbs, as well as bilateral coxofemoral joint subluxation and medial patella luxation on the left side. RT-qPCR testing excluded teratogenic viral infections. Pathology confirmed the diagnosis of an SR-type malformation and CT helped to further characterize the skeletal malformations that define SR. This is the first specific morphological description of SR in a llama and highlights the complementary value of CT and postmortem examination for characterizing complex congenital malformations in camelids.