Snail fauna and investigations into the incidence of schistosoma infection in Lake of Oguta 1 Region, Imo State, Nigeria

Spatial distribution, abundance, and infection rates of human schistosome-transmitting snails and related physicochemical parameters in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, South Africa

“…Research on schistosomiasis has generally focused on disease prevalence and intensity of infection among human populations, with few studies trying to identify the intermediate snail hosts within the vicinity of the areas [ 24 ]. However, to break the transmission cycle to achieve success in controlling schistosomiasis, both the parasite and IHS must be targeted [ 24 ].…”

“…Research on schistosomiasis has generally focused on disease prevalence and intensity of infection among human populations, with few studies trying to identify the intermediate snail hosts within the vicinity of the areas [ 24 ]. However, to break the transmission cycle to achieve success in controlling schistosomiasis, both the parasite and IHS must be targeted [ 24 ]. To better understand schistosomiasis transmission and inform effective interventions that will lead to control and eventual elimination in endemic areas, it is essential to have sound knowledge of the abundance and distribution of intermediate host snails [ 25 ].…”

Challenges and Opportunities Presented by Current Techniques for Detecting Schistosome Infections in Intermediate Host Snails: A Scoping Review

“…Sixteen articles [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ] used conventional diagnostics to detect schistosome infection. The second most-used diagnostic technique was nucleic-acid amplification, used in 13 articles [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 33 , 34 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Three articles used eDNA-based diagnostics [ 36 , 37 , 44 ] while 1 article used the immunological diagnostics [ 41 ].…”

“…Snail shedding is the traditional method used to detect schistosome cercariae that emerge from an infected snail host [ 24 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 35 , 38 ]. Once miracidia infect snails, they undergo development within the snail host and upon maturing, are shed into the surrounding water as cercariae.…”

“…B.pfeifferi was found to be the most highly infected snail, accounting for about 85% of all infected snails in Omo Gibe river basin, Southwest Ethiopia. Ejehu et al [ 25 ] investigated the infection of schistosomiasis intermediate host snails in Lake Oguta 1 region, Imo state, Nigeria using the cercarial shedding technique. However, out of 385 snails collected, none shed cercariae.…”