image: This is a typical village water-access site on the Senegal River. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Chelsea L. Wood
Between 2016 and 2018, researchers used drone and satellite imagery to survey habitats of freshwater snails, which transmit schistosomiasis, at 32 sites of the Lower Senegal River Basin, a site of a schistosomiasis epidemic, and screened 1,287 children in the area for schistosomiasis, and found that area of the water-contact site and area covered by nonemergent vegetation, which serves as snail habitat, were stronger predictors of human infection than host snail counts; the authors also found that schistosomiasis transmission risk was higher near human water-contact sites with available snail habitats than other sites, suggesting that removing nonemergent vegetation may benefit snail control efforts.
Article #19-03698: "Precision mapping of snail habitat provides a powerful indicator of human schistosomiasis transmission," by Chelsea L. Wood et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Chelsea L. Wood, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; tel: 831-324-3076; email: chelwood@uw.edu
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Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences