Schistosomiasis with a Focus on Africa

Abstract

Schistosomiasis is a common neglected tropical disease of impoverished people and livestock in many developing countries in tropical Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. Substantial progress has been made in controlling schistosomiasis in some African countries, but the disease still prevails in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated 800 million people at risk of infection. Current control strategies rely primarily on treatment with praziquantel, as no vaccine is available; however, treatment alone does not prevent reinfection. There has been emphasis on the use of integrated approaches in the control and elimination of the disease in recent years with the development of health infrastructure and health education. However, there is a need to evaluate the present status of African schistosomiasis, primarily caused by Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium, and the factors affecting the disease as the basis for developing more effective control and elimination strategies in the future. This review provides an historical perspective of schistosomiasis in Africa and discusses the current status of control efforts in those countries where the disease is endemic.

Chromosome-level genome of Schistosoma haematobium underpins genome-wide explorations of molecular variation

“…It also contains novel genes, inferred using RNA-Seq evidence for the sporocyst (n = 19), cercaria (9), schistosomule (2) stages or eggs from urine (15) (S4 Table ). Of all 14,700 conceptually translated protein sequences, 13,649 (92.9%) were annotated using one or more databases (S5-S7 Tables), including InterProScan (n = 13,220), eggNOG (12,273) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG; 9768).…”

“…Although no vaccine is available to prevent urogenital schistosomiasis, affected people can be treated with the anthelminthic drug, called praziquantel. However, treatment efficacy with this drug can be variable [9][10][11][12][13], such that mass treatment alone might not achieve a sustainable control of this disease. Effective control is achieved by breaking the transmission of infection/disease, which requires sound knowledge and understanding of the biology and ecology of S. haematobium.…”

Low Sensitivity of Real Time PCRs Targeting Retrotransposon Sequences for the Detection of Schistosoma japonicum Complex DNA in Human Serum

“…Species of the Schistosoma japonicum complex with human pathogenic potential comprise S. mekongi and the closely related S. malayensis next to S. japonicum sensu stricto [ 1 , 2 ]. As a result of extensive ongoing Schistosoma -control and elimination programs in endemic settings [ 3 , 4 ], the quantitative disease burden due to S. japonicum complex is considerably lower compared to African schistosomiasis [ 5 ] caused by S. haematobium complex and S. mansoni complex [ 2 ], respectively, or compared to Latin American schistosomiasis caused by S. mansoni [ 5 ]. To eradicate residual parasite circulation, sensitive diagnostic tests are required [ 6 ].…”

Parasitological and Biochemical Efficacy of the Active Ingredients of Allium sativum and Curcuma longa in Schistosoma mansoni Infected Mice

“…Multiple Schistosoma species are parasitic to humans; S. mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium are mainly endemic to both Africa and the Middle East, which represents around 85% of the reported world cases [ 1 ]. Schistosomiasis pathogenicity can cause acute and chronic clinical syndromes [ 2 ].…”