Feasibility of interrupting the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths: the DeWorm3 community cluster-randomised controlled trial in Benin, India, and Malawi.

Background: Soil-transmitted helminths are targeted for elimination as a public health problem. This study assessed whether, with high coverage, community-wide mass drug administration (MDA) could lead to transmission interruption.

Methods: DeWorm3 is an open-label, community cluster-randomised controlled trial in Benin, India, and Malawi.

Global diversity of soil-transmitted helminths reveals population-biased genetic variation that impacts diagnostic targets.

Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) are intestinal parasites that affect over a billion people worldwide. STH control relies on microscopy-based diagnostics to monitor parasite prevalence and enable post-treatment surveillance; however, molecular diagnostics are rapidly being developed due to increased sensitivity, particularly in low-STH-prevalence settings. The genetic diversity of helminths and its potential impact on molecular diagnostics remain unclear.

Enrichment of Helminth Mitochondrial Genomes From Faecal Samples Using Hybridisation Capture.

New approaches are urgently needed to enrich rare or low-abundant DNA in complex samples. Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) inhabit heterogeneous environments, including the gastrointestinal tract of their host as adults and are excreted as eggs and larvae in faeces, complicating our understanding of their biology and the use of genetic tools for species monitoring and population tracking. We have developed a hybridisation capture approach to enrich mitochondrial genome sequences of two STH species, the roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides and whipworm Trichuris trichiura, from extracted DNA from faecal material and worm specimens.

Signatures of Endosymbiosis in Mitochondrial Genomes of Rhabdocoel Flatworms.

The transition from a free-living lifestyle to endosymbiosis represents a large evolutionary shift, impacting various aspects of any organism's biology, including its molecular-genetic groundwork. So far, it has been impossible to generalise the impact this lifestyle shift has on genomic architecture. This study explores this phenomenon using a new model system: neodalyellid flatworms (Rhabdocoela), a diverse assemblage of free-living and independently evolved endosymbiotic lineages.