Prawn aquaculture as a method for schistosomiasis control and poverty alleviation: a win-win approach to address a critical infectious disease of poverty

Abstract

40 Recent evidence suggests crustacean snail predators may aid schistosomiasis control 41 programs by targeting the environmental component of the parasite's life cycle through 42 predation of the snail species that serve as intermediate hosts of the parasite. We evaluate 43 costs, benefits, and potential synergies between schistosomiasis control and aquaculture of 44 giant prawns using an integrated bio-economic-epidemiologic model. We identified 45 combinations of stocking density and aquaculture cycle length that maximize profit and offer 46 disease control benefits for sustainable schistosomiasis control. We consider two prawn 47