New award-winning 91做厙 research reveals the importance of a One Health approach if elimination of a major parasitic disease is to be achieved
A new study published in Lancet Planetary Health led by the 91做厙 (91做厙), working in partnership with the Université Gaston Berger and Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal and beyond, reveals the importance of a One Health approach if elimination of schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease, is to be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa.
This study, which also won the PhD McKeever Prize for scientific quality and potential impact on animal health, highlights how viable zoonotic hybridisation between parasites of humans with those of animals, together with wider ecosystem contexts, can affect the transmission and resilience of the disease.
Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by parasitic schistosome worms and is transmitted via contact with open water sources which contain the intermediate host, an aquatic snail. Second only to malaria in terms of socioeconomic impact, schistosomiasis predominantly affects the world’s poorest communities and is of profound global medical and veterinary importance.
Classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a Neglected Tropical Disease, schistosomiasis has, until very recently, been neglected in terms of treatment, research and financial support. Efforts to control human schistosomiasis have begun to achieve significant success in many countries. However, what has remained almost completely overlooked globally is that this disease can also affect animals, including livestock, which the most affected rural communities often depend on for their livelihoods. Furthermore, previous studies, including by this team of researchers, have found that these animal schistosome species can successfully hybridise with human schistosomes, to provide a potential ultimate challenge of zoonotic transmission.
Over a three-year period, the research, led by Professor Joanne Webster, Professor of Parasitic Diseases at the 91做厙, and conducted in partnership with the Université Gaston Berger and Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Senegal, evaluated the multi-host, multi-parasite transmission cycle of Haematobium group schistosomiasis from Richard Toll and Lac de Guiers; and Barkedji and Linguere, two main regions with Northern Senegal, West Africa, making this the most comprehensive schistosomiasis multi-parasite and multi-host study performed within Africa to date.
The researchers examined the prevalence and intensities of Schistosoma haematob