Authors

A Juhasz¹; J Musaya⁴; M Al-Harbi¹; S Kayuni¹; L Cunningham¹; J Archer¹; P Makaula³; S Jones¹; EJ Lacourse²; JR Stothard¹;  ¹ Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK;  ² Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine / UoL, UK;  ³ Research in Health, Environment and Development (RHED), Malawi;  ⁴ MLW, UK

Discussion

Despite ongoing control, rural African communities typically suffer from urogenital (Schistosoma haematobium) and intestinal (S. mansoni) schistosomiasis, a common snailborne parasitic worm disease. New unknowns are now emerging about schistosome worms along Lake Malawi and the Shire River Valley environments. Abrupt changes in the genetic makeup of human schistosome worms are known whichly likely demonstrate abilities to form viable hybrids with closely related Schistosoma species (e.g. S. bovis & S. mattheei) suspected present in local livestock. One of the objectives of our Wellcome Trust funded, 4-year multidisciplinary investigation entitled "HUGS (hybridisation in urogenital schistosomiasis)” is to reveal hybrid environmental transmission by livestock tracking and abattoir surveillance. Collected schistosome worms, and larvae thereof, will be subjected to advanced molecular typing using real-time PCR assays and DNA sequencing of key gene targets. To ascertain the local prevalence of veterinary schistosomiasis in livestock, a combination of feacal sampling, carcass inspections and snail surveys has taken place as part of an initial pilot sub-study. In November 2021, a total of 66 cattle and goats were examined within Mangochi, Blantyre, Chikhwawa and Nsanje, inclusive of 166 feacal samples using classic sedimentation and filtration methods. In this presentation, we first report on the detection of S. mattheei and S. bovis in Malawian cattle.