1. A rapid diagnostic multiplex PCR approach for xenomonitoring of human and animal schistosomiasis in a 'One Health' context.
- Author
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Schols R, Carolus H, Hammoud C, Mulero S, Mudavanhu A, and Huyse T
- Subjects
- Animals, Genetic Variation, Humans, One Health statistics & numerical data, Parasitic Diseases, Animal epidemiology, Parasitic Diseases, Animal genetics, Schistosomiasis epidemiology, Sensitivity and Specificity, South Africa, Zimbabwe epidemiology, Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction methods, One Health standards, RNA, Protozoan genetics, Schistosoma genetics, Schistosomiasis diagnosis, Schistosomiasis veterinary, Species Specificity
- Abstract
Studying the epidemiology of schistosomiasis-the most prevalent gastropod-borne human disease and an economic burden for the livestock industry-relies on adequate monitoring tools. Here we describe a molecular assay for detecting human and animal African schistosome species in their planorbid gastropod host (xenomonitoring) using a two-step approach. First, schistosome infections are detected and discriminated from other trematode infections using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that includes a trematode-specific marker (in 18S rDNA), a Schistosoma genus-specific marker (in internal transcribed spacer 2 [ITS2]) and a general gastropod marker (in 18S rDNA) as an internal control. Upon Schistosoma sp. detection, a second multiplex PCR is performed to discriminate among Schistosoma haematobium, Schistosoma mansoni, Schistosoma mattheei and Schistosoma bovis/Schistosoma curassoni/Schistosoma guineensis using markers of differential lengths in the cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COX1) gene. The specificity of these assays was validated with adult worms, naturally infected gastropods and human urine and stool samples. Sensitivity was tested on experimentally infected snail specimens that were sacrificed 10 and 40 days post-infection in order to mimic a natural prepatent and mature infection, respectively. The assay provides a diagnostic tool to support the xenomonitoring of planorbid gastropods for trematode infections in a One Health context, with a focus on the transmission monitoring of schistosomiasis., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)
- Published
- 2019
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