Seasonal and environmental dynamics of intra-urban freshwater habitats and their influence on the abundance of Bulinus snail host of Schistosoma haematobium in the Tiko endemic focus, Mount Cameroon region.

Autor: Wepnje GB; Department of Animal Biology and Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon., Peters MK; Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany., Green AE; Department of Animal Biology and Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon., Nkuizin TE; Department of Animal Biology and Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon., Kenko DBN; Department of Animal Biology and Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon., Dzekashu FF; International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe), Nairobi, Kenya.; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB, Canada., Kimbi HK; Department of Animal Biology and Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Bamenda, Bambili, Cameroon.; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, United States of America., Anchang-Kimbi JK; Department of Animal Biology and Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2023 Oct 19; Vol. 18 (10), pp. e0292943. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 19 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0292943
Abstrakt: Urogenital schistosomiasis (UGS) caused by Schistosoma haematobium is endemic in the South West Region of Cameroon. An understanding of the abundance and distribution of the Bulinus snail, intermediate host can inform strategic snail control programmes at a local scale. This study investigated seasonal dynamics and environmental factors influencing occurrence and abundance of freshwater snail intermediate hosts in Tiko, a semi-urban endemic focus in the Mount Cameroon area. A longitudinal malacological field survey was conducted between December 2019 and December 2020 in the Tiko municipality. Snails were collected for one year monthly at 12 different human water contact sites along a stretch of the Ndongo stream using a standardized sampling technique. Freshwater snails were identified using shell morphological features. In addition, water temperature, pH, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solutes, salinity, water depth, width and flow velocity were measured, and vegetation cover as well as substrate type were determined. Bayesian regression models were used to identify the main environmental factors affecting the occurrence and abundance of Bulinus intermediate host. In total, 2129 fresh water snails were collected during the study period. Physa (51.4%) was the most abundant genus followed by Melanoides (28.6%) then, Bulinus (15.5%), Lymnaea (4.2%), Indoplanorbis (0.2%) and Potadoma (0.1%). Seasonality in abundance was significant in Bulinus sp as well as other genera, with greater numbers in the dry season (peaks between December and February). Water temperature, a rocky or sandy substrate type associated positively with Bulinus sp, meanwhile a higher water flow rate and medium vegetation negatively influenced the snail intermediate host population. These findings underscore the importance of timing behavioural and snail control interventions against schistosomiasis as well as increase vigilance of other trematode diseases in the study area. The continuous spread of planorbid snail hosts is a major concern.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no have competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Wepnje et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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