Authors

R Francoeur²; A Atuhaire¹; M Arinaitwe¹; M Adriko¹; D Ajambo¹; A Nakasi¹; S A Babayan³; P H Lamberton²;  ¹ Vector Control Division, Ministry of Health, Uganda;  ² Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and comparative Medicine, and Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology, University of Glasgow, UK;  ³ Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health, & Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, UK

Discussion

Schistosoma mansoni is a parasite which causes significant public health issues infecting over 220 million people globally. In Uganda alone approximately 11.6 million people are affected. Despite over a decade of mass drug administration in this country, hyperendemic ‘hotspots’ continue to persist. Blood type antigens have been reported to affect risk, resistance, and infection intensity for a variety of diseases due to cross-reactivity between host antibodies and pathogenic antigens. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of blood type as a potential intrinsic host factor that might contribute to high levels of S. mansoni infections in hyperendemic areas of Uganda. To mitigate limitations in determining infection status, the study used longitudinal infection data to measure infection intensity patterns over time and to analyse associations with blood type. Other biometric parameters including age, gender, and BMI have previously been established as significant variables influencing the prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis. A mixed general linear regression model was used to evaluate correlations between blood type, age, gender, BMI and variance across three different villages. The model revealed no associations between blood type and infection intensity. Variations in infection profiles varied significantly between the villages and egg burden significantly decreased with age. While blood type has proven to be a predictor of numerous diseases, our study indicates that it does not play a role S. mansoni infection status.