Interactions between Natural Populations of Human and Rodent Schistosomes in the Lake Victoria Region of Kenya: A Molecular Epidemiological Approach

Abstract

Background Schistosoma mansoni exists in a complex environmental milieu that may select for significant evolutionary changes in this species. In Kenya, the sympatric distribution of S. mansoni with S. rodhaini potentially influences the epidemiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology of both species, because they infect the same species of snail and mammalian hosts and are capable of hybridization.Methodology/Principal FindingsOver a 2-year period, using a molecular epidemiological approach, we examined spatial and temporal distributions, and the overlap of these schistosomes within snails, in natural settings in Kenya. Both species had spatially and temporally patchy distributions, although S. mansoni was eight times more common than S. rodhaini. Both species were overdispersed within snails, and most snails (85.2% for S. mansoni and 91.7% for S. rodhaini) only harbored one schistosome genotype. Over time, half of snails infected with multiple genotypes showed a replacement pattern in which an initially dominant genotype was less represented in later replicates. The other half showed a consistent pattern over time; however, the ratio of each genotype was skewed. Profiles of circadian emergence of cercariae revealed that S. rodhaini emerges throughout the 24-hour cycle, with peak emergence before sunrise and sometimes immediately after sunset, which differs from previous reports of a single nocturnal peak immediately after sunset. Peak emergence for S. mansoni cercariae occurred as light became most intense and overlapped temporally with S. rodhaini. Comparison of schistosome communities within snails against a null model indicated that the community was structured and that coinfections were more common than expected by chance. In mixed infections, cercarial emergence over 24 hours remained similar to single species infections, again with S. rodhaini and S. mansoni cercarial emergence profiles overlapping substantially.Conclusions/SignificanceThe data from this study indicate a lack of obvious spatial or temporal isolating mechanisms to prevent hybridization, raising the intriguing question of how the two species retain their separate identities.

Digenean-gastropod host associations inform on aspects of specific immunity in snails

“…Indeed, experiments by Kagan and Geiger (1965) and File (1975) showed that when B. glabrata already shedding S. mansoni cercariae were later exposed to additional miracidia, some of these miracidia were able to develop and produce cercariae. Microsatellite and Southern blot studies have shown that field-collected Biomphalaria snails, including B. glabrata , are not uncommonly shedding cercariae of multiple genotypes, with as many as 8 genotypes reported from one snail (Minchella et al, 1995; Steinauer et al, 2008). The overall results suggest that the underlying interactions of echinostomes and schistosomes with B. glabrata differ, with it easier to evoke acquired resistance in the case of echinostomes, possibly because B. glabrata is more prone to develop age-related resistance to echinostomes than to schistosomes.…”

The spatial and seasonal distribution of Bulinus truncatus, Bulinus forskalii and Biomphalaria pfeifferi, the intermediate host snails of schistosomiasis, in N’Djamena, Chad

“…After 3-4 hours (Steinauer et al, 2008), each well was examined for the presence of cercariae under a stereo microscope (magnification: 12-25 x). All cercariae found were transferred onto a slide, inspected with a compound microscope (magnification: 4x /0.10 and 10x /0.25) and identified by the morphological characteristics using the identification key of Frandsen and Christensen (1984).…”

Discovery-based studies of schistosome diversity stimulate new hypotheses about parasite biology

“…Schistosomes differ with respect to the time of day they emerge from their snail hosts, with some species emerging predictably at night ( Schistosomatium douthitti ), early morning ( Schistosoma rodhaini ), midday ( S. mansoni ), later in the afternoon ( S. japonicum ), and some throughout the day ( T. physellae ). Time of cercarial release has been well investigated relative to behavioral patterns of known definitive hosts [42, 43]. …”