RESUMO
Schistosomiasis is a common neglected tropical disease of impoverished people and livestock in many developing countries in tropical Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. Substantial progress has been made in controlling schistosomiasis in some African countries, but the disease still prevails in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa with an estimated 800 million people at risk of infection. Current control strategies rely primarily on treatment with praziquantel, as no vaccine is available; however, treatment alone does not prevent reinfection. There has been emphasis on the use of integrated approaches in the control and elimination of the disease in recent years with the development of health infrastructure and health education. However, there is a need to evaluate the present status of African schistosomiasis, primarily caused by Schistosoma mansoni and S. haematobium, and the factors affecting the disease as the basis for developing more effective control and elimination strategies in the future. This review provides an historical perspective of schistosomiasis in Africa and discusses the current status of control efforts in those countries where the disease is endemic.
RESUMO
Molecular diagnostics are powerful tools for disease detection but are typically confined to the laboratory environment due to the cumbersome methods required to extract nucleic acids from biological samples. Accurate diagnosis is essential for early detection of parasitic worm infections and for monitoring control programs, particularly during new transmission outbreaks to limit infection spread. We optimized the recently developed DNA dipstick technology to purify Schistosoma japonicum DNA from different life stages in <60 s. We successfully detected DNA from adult worms, eggs and infected snails. The speed and simplicity of this method enables the point-of-care detection of S. japonicum.