Hind A Alzaylaee, Martin J Genner and Eric R Morgan
University of Bristol, UK Queens University Belfast, UK
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Int J Appl Sci Res Rev
Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that causes severe pathology, mortality and economic loss worldwide. It is especially prevalent in Africa. These parasites require intermediate host (snails) in their life cycles. This pathogen continues to extend to new geographical regions despite significant advances in control. To fully understand the dynamics of schistosomiasis transmission, integration of the ecological factors that affect both humans and freshwater snails is needed. New diagnostic methods that target extraorganismal environmental DNA (eDNA) can offer better identification of human-infecting Schistosoma in epidemiological studies. These methods could also provide more sensitive detection in low population densities of the target organisms. Therefore, this study aimed to design and test realtime qPCR probes and primers for Schistosoma mansoni, S. haematobium and S. japonicum by amplifying species-specific amplification. The developed primers were tested on microcosm eDNA samp`les with confirmed S. mansoni presence in the cultures of gastropods. These developed primers and probes successfully identified the presence of Schistosoma within eDNA from the natural environment (Tanzania), thereby indicating that eDNA monitoring is a valid method for the detection of Schistosoma in freshwater bodies.
Hind A Alzaylaee has completed her Masters’ Degree from Taif University, Saudi Arabia and she is currently doing her PhD at University of Bristol. She is a Lecturer of Parasitology, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia.
E-mail: ha15695@bristol.ac.uk
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