Development of a molecular snail xenomonitoring assay to detect Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma bovis infections in their Bulinus snail hosts

Pennance, Tom, Archer, John, Lugli, Elena, Rostron, Penny, Llanwarne, Felix, Ali, Said M., Amour, Amour Khamis, Suleiman, Khamis Rashid, Li, Sarah, Rollinson, David, Cable, Jo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8510-7055, Knopp, Stefanie, Allan, Fiona, Ame, Shaali M. and Webster, Bonnie Lee 2020. Development of a molecular snail xenomonitoring assay to detect Schistosoma haematobium and Schistosoma bovis infections in their Bulinus snail hosts. Molecules 25 (17) , 4011. 10.3390/molecules25174011

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Abstract

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 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 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

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Publisher:	MDPI
ISSN:	1420-3049
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	1 September 2020
Date of Acceptance:	26 August 2020
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 15:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/134591

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