DISTRIBUTION OF SCHISTOSOME INFECTIONS IN MOLLUSCAN HOSTS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF PARASITE PREVALENCE

Biomphalaria glabrata snails infected with Schistosoma mansoni were collected during consecutive seasons from a site in Brazil known to have a very high percentage of infected snails. Schistosoma mansoni cercariae from single snails were used to infect individual mice, and the recovered adult worms...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of parasitology 2002-04, Vol.88 (2), p.232-236
Main Authors: Eppert, A, Lewis, F. A, Grzywacz, C, Coura-Filho, P, Caldas, I, Minchella, D. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggregation
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biomphalaria - parasitology
Brazil - epidemiology
DNA Fingerprinting
DNA, Mitochondrial - chemistry
DNA, Mitochondrial - genetics
ECOLOGY-EPIDEMIOLOGY
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic diversity
Genetic variation
Genotypes
Infections
Intermediate hosts
Male
Medically important nuisances and vectors, pests of stored products and materials: population survey and control
Mice
Microsatellite Repeats - genetics
Parasite hosts
Parasites
Parasitology
Prevalence
Schistosoma mansoni - genetics
Schistosoma mansoni - isolation & purification
Schistosomiasis mansoni - epidemiology
Seasons
Snails
Vectors. Intermediate hosts
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Summary:Biomphalaria glabrata snails infected with Schistosoma mansoni were collected during consecutive seasons from a site in Brazil known to have a very high percentage of infected snails. Schistosoma mansoni cercariae from single snails were used to infect individual mice, and the recovered adult worms were genetically assessed using a mtVNTR marker. The number of unique parasite genotypes found per snail was compared to expected abundance values, based on the infection prevalence at the site, to determine the distribution of S. mansoni infections within the snail population. The observed distributions and those from previous studies were used to examine the relationship between schistosome prevalence and aggregation across a wide range of prevalence values. Our analysis showed that prevalence was inversely related to the degree of parasite overdispersion, and at high prevalence, S. mansoni infections were randomly distributed among snails.
ISSN:0022-3395
1937-2345
DOI:10.1645/0022-3395(2002)088[0232:DOSIIM]2.0.CO;2