It is an awkward fact that effective public health control of schistosomiasis in Africa has yet to deliver a fully comprehensive intervention for appropriate anthelmintic treatment of those preschool-age children and infants with active infection(s) and/or insidious disease. Over the last decade, despite the steady progress of the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium in developing a monoenantiomeric oral dispersible tablet, future challenges remain in securing its deployment and implementation at scale. This commentary provides a forward-looking critique for the international community, reminding us of this unfortunate treatment gap, and seeks to encourage commensurate action on ameliorating this overlooked medical inequity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe highlight the epidemiological importance of Schistosoma mattheei, a common parasite of livestock with an underappreciated ability to infect people, being recently incriminated in both female and male genital schistosomiasis. Through hybridisation(s) with other schistosome species, its public health importance will grow as its zoonotic potential expands across southern Africa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLake Victoria is a well-known hot spot for intestinal schistosomiasis, caused by infection with the trematode Schistosoma mansoni. The snail intermediate hosts of this parasite are Biomphalaria snails, with Biomphalaria choanomphala being the predominant intermediate host within Lake Victoria. The prevalence of S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Intestinal schistosomiasis was confirmed endemic in Mangochi District, Malawi, in May of 2018 following an unexpected encounter with discreet populations of Biomphalaria spp. freshwater snails during routine malacological surveillance activities. Since then, only limited malacological surveillance of Biomphalaria has been carried out, and so the distribution of Biomphalaria populations in this area is currently unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo shed first light on caprine schistosomiasis and its zoonotic potential in Malawi, we conducted a molecular epidemiological investigation, sampling goats ( = 230) across three districts, using faecal miracidia hatching test. Molecular genotyping of miracidia later revealed the prevalence of to be 0.0 % in Nsanje District ( = 30), 16.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF