Authors

FS Coelho²; A Cieplinski¹; V Yardley²; AM Emery¹; A Bustinduy²; B Webster¹;  ¹ Natural History Museum, UK;  ² London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK

Discussion

Schistosomiasis (bilharzia) is a chronic and debilitating tropical parasitic disease caused by schistosomes (Schistosoma spp.) transmitted by freshwater snails. It is a Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) of both humans and animals, with considerable health and economic impacts.  Endemicity is associated with low/middle-income countries with considerable disease burden within impoverished communities despite widespread control efforts. While substantial advances have been made in the control of schistosomiasis, the diversity and complexity of Schistosoma species and their specific fresh-water snail hosts warrants fundamental research requiring lifecycles, live material and diverse collections. Due to the complexity and financial burden of maintaining Schistosoma lifecycles currently, very few labs are able to maintain the parasites and/or the snail hosts and current long-term cultures/collections lack the genetic heterogeneity observed in natural populations. Without the availability of diverse Schistosoma lifecycles/ live material, future research faces substantial obstacles. The Schistosome and Snail Resource (SSR) is a Wellcome Trust funded (2021-2026) biomedical resource run through a partnership between the Natural History Museum (London) and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Its overall aim is for the creation and maintenance of live material (Schistosoma and Snail host species), lifecycles and collections that are currently limited or that do not exist elsewhere. The SSR aims to provide access to: 1) the “standard/model” Schistosoma and snailspecies; 2) key African Schistosoma species/strains; 3) cultures of diverse snail vectors, enhancing current research and capacity while enabling new research avenues. Our historical expertise in establishing and maintaining unique schistosome and snail isolates/collections from different endemic settings, together with the state-of-the art snail facility (NHM) and LSHTM rodent facility will facilitate the development of the resource. The SSR, is an open resource for the global research community and will add considerable value by facilitating priority research needed to support schistosomiasis control and elimination.