Report of high prevalence of schistosome infection in Biomphalaria snails from a geographic area with no previous prevalence of human schistosomiasis in Nigeria.

Previous study using the traditional method of screening snails for infection reported shedding of Schistosoma cercaria by Biomphalaria snails from a river in Nkalagu, southeastern Nigeria. This is contrary to published reports that Biomphalaria from this part of the country does not shed schistosome cercaria. Here, we employed the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to screen and characterize the Biomphalaria snails from Nkalagu.