Stocking African catfish in Lake Victoria provides effective biocontrol of snail vectors of Schistosoma mansoni.

In areas of high infection prevalence, effective control of schistosomiasis - one of the most important Neglected Tropical Diseases - requires supplementing medical treatment with interventions targeted at the environmental reservoir of disease. In addition to provision of clean water, reliable sanitation, and molluscicide use to control the obligate intermediate host snail, top-down biological control of parasite-competent snails has recently gained increasing interest in the scientific community. However, evidence that natural predators can effectively reduce snail abundance and, ultimately, transmission risk to vulnerable human populations remains limited.

A case of schistosomiasis and healthcare seeking in Mwanza, Tanzania.

This article explores the cultural practices and diagnostic challenges surrounding schistosomiasis in Tanzania's Lake Zone. Mr Ezekiel's son endured years of misdiagnosis and ineffective treatments until the correct identification and treatment of his chronic urinary schistosomiasis, highlighting the need for improved healthcare access and awareness in rural African communities.

Mapping of snail intermediate host habitats reveals variability in schistosome and non-schistosome trematode transmission in an endemic setting.

The intermediate snail host of , the etiological agent of urogenital schistosomiasis, serves as a critical sentinel for tracking the spread of associated disease risks. In addition to , spp snails also transmit to cattle as well as several non-schistosome trematodes to cattle and wildlife. Identifying transmission foci of these multi-parasite hosts is critical for targeted and effective One Health intervention.

Intraguild predation among snails drives human schistosome amplification despite susceptible host regulation.

Competitors and predators of hosts can alter transmission dynamics within host-parasite systems. Biocontrol aims to harness these effects to mitigate disease, but these attempts may backfire without an understanding of the ecological interactions involved. We investigated how resource competition among snail species affects transmission potential of the human flatworm parasite from its snail intermediate host, .

Integrating hybridization and introgression into host-parasite epidemiology, ecology, and evolution.

Hybridization and introgression between host species or between parasite species are emerging challenges for human, plant, and animal health, especially as global trends like climate change and urbanization increase overlap of species ranges. This creates opportunities for heterospecific crosses between diverged taxa that could generate novel host and parasite genotypes with unique traits (e.g.

A meta-analysis on global change drivers and the risk of infectious disease.

Anthropogenic change is contributing to the rise in emerging infectious diseases, which are significantly correlated with socioeconomic, environmental and ecological factors. Studies have shown that infectious disease risk is modified by changes to biodiversity, climate change, chemical pollution, landscape transformations and species introductions. However, it remains unclear which global change drivers most increase disease and under what contexts.

Spatio-temporal variability in transmission risk of human schistosomes and animal trematodes in a seasonally desiccating East African landscape.

Different populations of hosts and parasites experience distinct seasonality in environmental factors, depending on local-scale biotic and abiotic factors. This can lead to highly heterogeneous disease outcomes across host ranges. Variable seasonality characterizes urogenital schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic trematodes ().

Mapping current and future habitat suitability of Azolla spp., a biofertilizer for small-scale rice farming in Africa.

How do we feed the expanding human population without excessive resource depletion or environmental degradation? Recycling and recapturing nutrients could alleviate these challenges, especially if these strategies are robust to climate change. Co-cultivating rice with Azolla spp. in Asia has demonstrated high yields with reduced fertilizer inputs because Azolla fixes atmospheric nitrogen, limits nitrogen volatilization, recaptures and releases other nutrients, and suppresses weeds.

Parasite transmission in size-structured populations.

Host heterogeneity can affect parasite transmission, but determining underlying traits and incorporating them into transmission models remains challenging. Body size is easily measured and affects numerous ecological interactions, including transmission. In the snail-schistosome system, larger snails have a higher exposure to parasites but lower susceptibility to infection per parasite.

Host-pathogen interactions under pressure: A review and meta-analysis of stress-mediated effects on disease dynamics.

Human activities have increased the intensity and frequency of natural stressors and created novel stressors, altering host-pathogen interactions and changing the risk of emerging infectious diseases. Despite the ubiquity of such anthropogenic impacts, predicting the directionality of outcomes has proven challenging. Here, we conduct a review and meta-analysis to determine the primary mechanisms through which stressors affect host-pathogen interactions and to evaluate the impacts stress has on host fitness (survival and fecundity) and pathogen infectivity (prevalence and intensity).

Pseudacris regilla metamorphs acquire resistance to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis after exposure to the killed fungus.

The pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is associated with drastic global amphibian declines. Prophylactic exposure to killed zoospores and the soluble chemicals they produce (Bd metabolites) can induce acquired resistance to Bd in adult Cuban treefrogs Osteopilus septentrionalis. Here, we exposed metamorphic frogs of a second species, the Pacific chorus frog Pseudacris regilla, to one of 2 prophylactic treatments prior to live Bd exposures: killed Bd zoospores with metabolites, killed zoospores alone, or a water control.

Spatiotemporal variability in transmission risk of human schistosomes and animal trematodes in a seasonally desiccating East African landscape.

Different populations of hosts and parasites experience distinct seasonality in environmental factors, depending on local-scale biotic and abiotic factors. This can lead to highly heterogenous disease outcomes across host ranges. Variable seasonality characterizes urogenital schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by parasitic trematodes ().

FUNGAL METABOLITES PROVIDE PRE-EXPOSURE PROTECTION BUT NO POSTEXPOSURE BENEFIT OR HARM AGAINST BATRACHOCHYTRIUM DENDROBATIDIS.

Disease control tools are needed to mitigate the effect of the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) on amphibian biodiversity loss. In previous experiments, Bd metabolites (i.e.

Experimental water hyacinth invasion and destructive management increase human schistosome transmission potential.

Invasive species cause environmental degradation, decrease biodiversity, and alter ecosystem function. Invasions can also drive changes in vector-borne and zoonotic diseases by altering important traits of wildlife hosts or disease vectors. Managing invasive species can restore biodiversity and ecosystem function, but it may have cascading effects on hosts, parasites, and human risk of infection.

Snail juvenile growth rate as a rapid predictor of the transmission potential of parasitizing human schistosomes.

Host and parasite traits that are sensitive to environmental perturbations merit special attention in the mitigation of diseases. While life table experiments allow a practical evaluation of variability of these traits with environmental change, they are cost and resource intensive. Here, we use a model snail host-trematode parasite system to test the efficacy of an expeditious alternative.

Cascading impacts of host seasonal adaptation on parasitism.

The persistence of parasite populations through harsh seasonal bouts is often critical to circannual disease outbreaks. Parasites have a diverse repertoire of phenotypes for persistence, ranging from transitioning to a different life stage better suited to within-host dormancy to utilizing weather-hardy structures external to hosts. While these adaptive traits allow parasite species to survive through harsh seasons, it is often at survival rates that threaten population persistence.

Nutritional effects of invasive macrophyte detritus on infections in snail intermediate hosts.

Schistosomes are parasitic flatworms that cycle between humans and freshwater snails, infecting more than 200 million humans. Many schistosome-endemic sites are invaded by non-native plants that snails cannot consume. Inedible plants could suppress snail growth, reproduction, and schistosome production by outcompeting edible resources.

Sublethal effects of parasitism on ruminants can have cascading consequences for ecosystems.

Parasitic infections are common, but how they shape ecosystem-level processes is understudied. Using a mathematical model and meta-analysis, we explored the potential for helminth parasites to trigger trophic cascades through lethal and sublethal effects imposed on herbivorous ruminant hosts after infection. First, using the model, we linked negative effects of parasitic infection on host survival, fecundity, and feeding rate to host and producer biomass.

Transmission potential of human schistosomes can be driven by resource competition among snail intermediate hosts.

Predicting and disrupting transmission of human parasites from wildlife hosts or vectors remains challenging because ecological interactions can influence their epidemiological traits. Human schistosomes, parasitic flatworms that cycle between freshwater snails and humans, typify this challenge. Human exposure risk, given water contact, is driven by the production of free-living cercariae by snail populations.

Divergent effects of invasive macrophytes on population dynamics of a snail intermediate host of Schistosoma Mansoni.

Vectors and intermediate hosts of globally impactful human parasites are sensitive to changes in the ecological communities in which they are embedded. Sites of endemic transmission of human schistosome can also be invaded by nonnative species, especially aquatic plants (macrophytes). We tested the effects on macrophyte invasions on experiment snail and schistosome populations created in 100 L mesocosm tanks.

Re-emphasizing mechanism in the community ecology of disease.

. Hosts and their parasites exist within complex ecological communities. However, the role that non-focal community members, species which cannot be infected by a focal pathogen, may play in altering parasite transmission is often only studied in the lens of the "diversity-disease" relationship by focusing on species richness.

Competitive Exclusion of Phytopathogenic Serratia marcescens from Squash Bug Vectors by the Gut Endosymbiont .

Many insects harbor microbial symbiotic partners that offer protection against pathogens, parasitoids, and other natural enemies. Mounting evidence suggests that these symbiotic microbes can play key roles in determining infection outcomes in insect vectors, making them important players in the quest to develop novel vector control strategies. Using the squash bug , we investigated how the presence of symbionts affected the persistence and intensity of phytopathogenic Serratia marcescens within the insect vector.

Variability in environmental persistence but not per capita transmission rates of the amphibian chytrid fungus leads to differences in host infection prevalence.

Heterogeneities in infections among host populations may arise through differences in environmental conditions through two mechanisms. First, environmental conditions may alter host exposure to pathogens via effects on survival. Second, environmental conditions may alter host susceptibility, making infection more or less likely if contact between a host and pathogen occurs.