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Publications (29)
Zanzibar is among the few places in sub-Saharan Africa where interruption of Schistosoma transmission seems an achievable goal. Our systematic review identifies and discusses milestones in schistosomiasis research, control and elimination efforts in Zanzibar over the past 100 years. The search in online databases, libraries, and the World Health Or...
Background:
Biannual mass drug administration (MDA) with praziquantel and additional interventions to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis has been implemented on the Zanzibar islands, United Republic of Tanzania, since 2012. We aimed to assess the coverage of school-based treatment (SBT) and community-wide treatment (CWT), to validate the coverag...
Background:
The last decade has seen an expansion of national schistosomiasis control programmes in Africa based on large-scale preventative chemotherapy. In many areas this has resulted in considerable reductions in infection and morbidity levels in treated individuals. In this paper, we quantify changes in the force of infection (FOI), defined h...
Background:
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mass drug administration on Schistosoma mansoni prevalence and associated liver morbidity in treated school-aged children and untreated preschool children.
Methods:
In April 2008, parasitological (using the Kato-Katz method) and morbidity (determined by portal vein score) data w...
Background:
Gaining and sustaining control of schistosomiasis and, whenever feasible, achieving local elimination are the year 2020 targets set by the World Health Organization. In Zanzibar, various institutions and stakeholders have joined forces to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis within 5 years. We report baseline findings before the onset...
To confirm the local endemicity of Schistosoma haematobium on Mafia Island, Tanzania, conjoint parasitological and malacological surveys were undertaken in July 2006 with parasitological investigations supplemented with case-history questionnaires. A total of 238 children (125 girls and 113 boys, mean age of 13.9 years) across 9 primary schools wer...
##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Sequencher v. V4.8 Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##
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STROBE checklist.
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Statistical notation of Bayesian geostatistical models for prevalence of Schistosoma haematobium/hookworm co-infection in Ghana, 2008.
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Statistical notation of Bayesian geostatistical models for infection intensity of Schistosoma haematobium and hookworm in Ghana, 2008.
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Background:
Morbidity due to Schistosoma haematobium and hookworm infections is marked in those with intense co-infections by these parasites. The development of a spatial predictive decision-support tool is crucial for targeting the delivery of integrated mass drug administration (MDA) to those most in need. We investigated the co-distribution of...
Recent shifts in global health policy have led to the implementation of mass drug administration (MDA) for neglected tropical diseases. Here we show how population genetic analyses can provide vital insights into the impact of such MDA on endemic parasite populations. We show that even a single round of MDA produced a genetic bottleneck with reduct...
Schistosomiasis remains one of the most prevalent parasitic diseases in developing countries. After malaria, schistosomiasis is the most important tropical disease in terms of human morbidity with significant economic and public health consequences. Although schistosomiasis has recently attracted increased focus and funding for control, it has been...
Objectives:
To characterize age-gender prevalence profiles of urinary schistosomiasis according to the questionnaire responses, compare the profiles to field survey data from selected regions, and determine if the profiles varied spatially throughout Tanzania.
Methods:
In 2004, a national school-based questionnaire survey for self-reported schis...
Spatial modelling was applied to self-reported schistosomiasis data from over 2.5 million school students from 12,399 schools in all regions of mainland Tanzania. The aims were to derive statistically robust prevalence estimates in small geographical units (wards), to identify spatial clusters of high and low prevalence and to quantify uncertainty...
That pathogens and hosts coevolve is a powerful concept with broad theoretical and applied implications spanning from genetic theory to the medical and veterinary sciences, particularly in the context of infectious disease epidemiology. A substantial body of theory has been developed to explore the likelihood and consequences of coevolution, but fe...
Parasitism changes the host environment and may influence resource allocation between reproductive effort and somatic maintenance. We characterized the impact of dose-dependent schistosome exposure and/or infection establishment on intermediate host survival and reproduction. Four matched groups of Biomphalaria glabrata snails were individually exp...
As a result of support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, schistosomiasis and intestinal or soil-transmitted helminth infections have been the subject of national control programmes in three Eastern and Southern African countries: Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia. Here, we review the significant progress made in their con...
To predict the spatial distributions of Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni infections to assist planning the implementation of mass distribution of praziquantel as part of an on-going national control programme in Tanzania.
Bayesian geostatistical models were developed using parasitological data from 143 schools.
In the S. haematobium models, a...
Schistosomiasis among pregnant women has been inadequately investigated. In order to determine the importance of Schistosoma mansoni in this subgroup, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of 972 women in Tanzania and investigated the prevalence of Schistosoma mansoni, hookworm and malaria and their associations with anaemia. Overall, 63.5% of wome...
Coevolution between host and parasite is, in principle, a powerful determinant of the biology and genetics of infection and disease. However, coevolution is difficult to demonstrate rigorously in practice and therefore has rarely been observed empirically, particularly in animal-parasite systems. Research on host-schistosome interactions has the po...
Host life history traits are often shaped by trade-offs between the current and potential future costs of parasitism. Reproductive tissues are not normally essential for host survival and diversion of resources elsewhere is a common effect of parasitic infection. Variations in reproductive output may therefore indicate overall fitness correlated to...
The ability of microsatellite loci to reveal genetic diversity between individuals of the digenean trematode Schistosoma mansoni was investigated. A total of 10 polymorphic microsatellite markers were isolated and optimized, allowing the variability at each locus amplified within 12 individuals from three African populations to be assessed. Allelic...
Acridine orange staining was used to compare transcription patterns in hatched and unhatched second stage juveniles (J2s) of Globodera rostochiensis. Unhatched J2s showed little staining when compared with hatched J2s. Hatched J2s showed specific and reproducible staining of the nucleoli of the dorsal oesophageal gland cell and genital primordia. S...
Supervisor: Joanne Webster. Thesis (D.Phil.)--University of Oxford, 2003. Includes bibliographical references.
