title: Use of sentinel snails for the detection of Schistosoma haematobium transmission on Zanzibar and observations on transmission patterns.
abstract: Urogenital schistosomiasis is an important public health issue in Zanzibar. Transmission of the parasite to the human population is related to the distribution of the intermediate snail host, Bulinus globosus. We measured B. globosus abundance and Schistosoma haematobium prevalence within snails in a series of naturally occurring populations and compared prevalence detected by observing cercarial shedding for patent infections, and by PCR using DraI repeat. A total of 2146 B. globosus were collected throughout the study period from 2003 to 2007; of these 85 (3.96%) were shedding cercariae. The levels of infection detected by PCR were consistently higher (40-100 percent). Levels of exposure to miracidia in the field were measured using sentinel snails. B. globosus (a susceptible host) and B. nasutus (a non-susceptible host) were placed in cages at transmission sites for 72h to observe rates of penetration by miracidia. Both B. globosus and B. nasutus tested positive for S. haematobium by PCR (up to 24% infected) indicating frequent contamination of the waterbodies with S. haematobium miracidia. The use of sentinel snails coupled with PCR diagnostics could be a sensitive tool for mapping and monitoring transmission of schistosomiasis in areas of low prevalence.
authors: Wolfson Wellcome Biomedical Laboratories, Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK; Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK. Electronic address: f.allan@nhm.ac.uk.
authors: Fiona
authors: F
authors: Allan
authors: Alison M
authors: AM
authors: Dunn
authors: Aidan M
authors: AM
authors: Emery
authors: J Russell
authors: JR
authors: Stothard
authors: David A
authors: DA
authors: Johnston
authors: Richard A
authors: RA
authors: Kane
authors: Alipo N
authors: AN
authors: Khamis
authors: Khalfan A
authors: KA
authors: Mohammed
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Rollinson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002033:Bulinus / Q000469:parasitology*; D006801:Humans; D059208:Parasite Load; D010274:Parasitology / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence; D012548:Schistosoma haematobium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012553:Schistosomiasis haematobia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D014867:Water / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D014867:Water
keywords: Bulinus; Control; Schistosoma; Sentinel; Transmission; Zanzibar