Long-term dynamics of natural populations of Schistosoma mansoni among Rattus rattus in patchy environment

SUMMARY Dynamics of natural populations of Schistosoma mansoni were studied during 8 consecutive years among Rattus rattus populations from 8 transmission sites of the marshy forest focus of Guadeloupe (French West Indies). The schistosome population is over-dispersed ( k = 0·119) within the murine...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasitology
Main Authors: Théron, A., Pointier, J. P., Morand, S., Imbert-Establet, D., Borel, G.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1992
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Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0031182000061734
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0031182000061734
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Summary:SUMMARY Dynamics of natural populations of Schistosoma mansoni were studied during 8 consecutive years among Rattus rattus populations from 8 transmission sites of the marshy forest focus of Guadeloupe (French West Indies). The schistosome population is over-dispersed ( k = 0·119) within the murine hosts and ecological factors linked to the patchy environment may be responsible for such aggregated distribution. Analysis of the spatio-temporal variations in prevalences, intensities and abundances showed limited variations of the infection during the 8 years at the level of the whole parasite population but great spatial heterogeneity at the level of local schistosome populations. Inter-populational genetic variability linked to the degree of adaptation of this human parasite to the murine host may explain differences in transmission dynamics between the local populations of S. mansoni .