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http://hdl.handle.net/1893/36909
Appears in Collections: | Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles |
Peer Review Status: | Refereed |
Title: | A first report of Biomphalaria pfeifferi in the Lower Shire Valley, Southern Malawi, a major intermediate snail host species for intestinal schistosomiasis |
Author(s): | Nkolokosa, Clinton Mbewe, Rex Chirombo, James Stanton, Michelle C Jones, Christopher M Makaula, Peter Namacha, Gladys Chiepa, Blessings Kalonde, Patrick Ken Baluwa, Chifuniro Zembere, Kennedy Kambewa, Eggrey Aisha Kaonga, Chikumbusko Chiziwa Archer, John Juhász, Alexandra |
Contact Email: | clinton.nkolokosa@stir.ac.uk |
Issue Date: | 15-Feb-2025 |
Date Deposited: | 16-Feb-2025 |
Citation: | Nkolokosa C, Mbewe R, Chirombo J, Stanton MC, Jones CM, Makaula P, Namacha G, Chiepa B, Kalonde PK, Baluwa C, Zembere K, Kambewa EA, Kaonga CC, Archer J & Juhász A (2025) A first report of Biomphalaria pfeifferi in the Lower Shire Valley, Southern Malawi, a major intermediate snail host species for intestinal schistosomiasis. <i>Scientific Reports</i>, 15, Art. No.: 5603. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88930-4 |
Abstract: | The distribution of certain permissive intermediate snail host species in freshwater is a crucial factor shaping transmission of intestinal schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease that causes much human suffering in Africa. To shed new light on southern Malawi, where cases of intestinal schistosomiasis have been found, repeated malacological surveys were conducted in Chikwawa and Nsanje Districts in the Lower Shire Valley, to detect and to characterize populations of Biomphalaria, the intermediate host for intestinal schistosomiasis. Sampling took place across a total of 45 freshwater sites, noting water conductivity, pH, temperature, total dissolved salts (TDS) and geographical elevation. The presence or absence of snails was predicted upon physiochemical and environmental conditions in Random Forest modelling. Water conductivity, TDS and geographical elevation were most important in predicting abundance of snails with water temperature and pH of slightly less important roles. This first report of B. pfeifferi in the Lower Shire Valley enhances understanding of the environmental factors that strongly associate and allow prediction of its local distribution. This represents a useful step towards developing appropriate intervention strategies to mitigate intestinal schistosomiasis transmission. |
DOI Link: | 10.1038/s41598-025-88930-4 |
Rights: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Notes: | Additional authors: Lucas J. Cunningham, Julie-Anne Akiko Tangena & J. Russell Stothard |
Licence URL(s): | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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s41598-025-88930-4.pdf | Fulltext - Published Version | 2.61 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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