Development of a Molecular Snail Xenomonitoring Assay to Detect Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma bovis Infections in their Bulinus Snail Hosts

Development of a Molecular Snail Xenomonitoring Assay to Detect Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma bovis Infections in their Bulinus Snail Hosts

Blog Article

Schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease of medical and veterinary importance, transmitted through specific freshwater snail intermediate hosts, is targeted for elimination in several endemic regions in sub-Saharan Africa.Multi-disciplinary methods are required for both human and environmental diagnostics to certify schistosomiasis elimination when eventually reached.Molecular xenomonitoring protocols, a DNA-based detection method for screening disease vectors, have been developed and trialed for parasites transmitted by hematophagous insects, such as Ni-MH/Ni-Cd filarial worms and trypanosomes, yet few have been extensively trialed or proven reliable for the intermediate host snails transmitting schistosomes.Here, previously published universal and Schistosoma-specific internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA primers were adapted into a triplex PCR primer assay that allowed for simple, robust, and rapid detection of Schistosoma Cookie Sheets haematobium and Schistosoma bovis in Bulinus snails.

We showed this two-step protocol could sensitively detect DNA of a single larval schistosome from experimentally infected snails and demonstrate its functionality for detecting S.haematobium infections in wild-caught snails from Zanzibar.Such surveillance tools are a necessity for succeeding in and certifying the 2030 control and elimination goals set by the World Health Organization.