Molecular detection of prepatent Schistosoma mansoni infection in Biomphalaria glabrata snail vectors

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Márcia Oliveira Casotti, Ronaldo Cesar Borges Gryschek, Fabiana Martins de Paula, Michele Gomes-Gouvêa, João Renato Rebello Pinho, Roseli Tuan, Emmanuel Dias-Neto, Expedito José de Albuquerque Luna, Maria Cristina Carvalho do Espírito-Santo
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2020
• Subjects: Schistosoma mansoni; Biomphalaria glabrata; Molecular diagnosis; Surveillance; Snail; Vector; Polymerase Chain Reaction; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-9946202062017; https://doaj.org/article/676e5652c9064e95905523810fc6eefd

ABSTRACT Approximately 240 million people worldwide are infected by Schistosoma. In Brazil, one of the main intermediate hosts of this parasite is Biomphalaria glabrata snails. The early detection of larval stages in intermediate hosts is an important challenge to public health, but it also represents an opportunity as a new alternative to indicate earlier natural infections before cercariae differentiation and emergence. In this context, we demonstrated that PCR amplification of a 28S gene fragment from the parasite does demonstrate S. mansoni infection in snails 14 days post infection. This conventional polymerase chain reaction amplified clear bands and was able to detect parasitic infection in the intermediate host B. glabrata under experimental conditions. However, we reinforce that this approach requires deeper investigations and further comparisons to confirm its specificity and sensitivity in earlier time points after miracidia infection. This approach has relevant potential as an effective molecular-based strategy for the monitoring of schistosomiasis transmission.