Schistosomiasis in Malawi: a systematic review

Abstract

Introduction: Schistosomiasis remains an important public health problem that undermines social and economic development in tropical regions of the world, mainly Sub-Saharan Africa. We are not aware of any systematic review of the literature of the epidemiology and transmission of schistosomiasis in Malawi since 1985. Therefore, we reviewed the current state of knowledge of schistosomiasis epidemiology and transmission in this country and identified knowledge gaps and relevant areas for future research and research governance. Methods: We conducted computer-aided literature searches of Medline, SCOPUS and Google Scholar using the keywords: "schistosomiasis", "Bilharzia", "Bulinus" and "Biomphalaria" in combination with "Malawi". These searches were supplemented by iterative reviews of reference lists for relevant publications in peer reviewed international scientific journals or other media. The recovered documents were reviewed for their year of publication, location of field or laboratory work, authorship characteristics, ethics review, funding sources as well as their findings regarding parasite and intermediate host species, environmental aspects, geographical distribution, seasonality of transmission, and infection prevalence and intensities.

Bladder Cancer Incidence and Mortality: A Global Overview and Recent Trends

“…Given the large differences in smoking prevalence between men and women in this country (ie, 26.3% and 6.3% in men and women, respectively) [44], other risk factors may be in operation. However, the evidence for a role of schistosomiasis in Malawi remains limited [45].…”

Prevalence and Intensity of Schistosomiasis in Communities around Water Reservoirs in Malawi

“…Other studies in Phalombe and along the shore areas of Lake Malawi reported a prevalence of about 94% in school aged children [8]. Consequently, studies on schistosomiasis in Malawi have been either conducted along Lake Malawi shores or concentrated in same places only [9,10]. This approach has resulted in leaving out all potential endemic areas, which include water reservoirs that serve a large proportion of the country's population.…”

“…In Malawi, there are about 750 water reservoirs, with only 7 large dams mainly for municipal water supply [11]. Furthermore, the approach has rendered schistosomiasis information fragmented such that it difficult to make a correct conclusion on the distribution and transmission of the disease in Malawi [9]. The present study was conducted to investigate the role of water reservoirs in transmission and prevalence of schistosomiasis in Malawi to provide and improve knowledge of schistosomiasis in Malawi.…”

High-throughput sequencing of RNAs isolated by cross-linking immunoprecipitation (HITS-CLIP) reveals Argonaute-associated microRNAs and targets in Schistosoma japonicum

“…Human schistosomiasis is one of the most prevalent and serious parasitic diseases in tropical and subtropical regions [ 1 ]. It affected approximately 200 million people worldwide.…”