Snail hosts abundance mediates the effects of antagonist interactions between trematodes on the transmission of human schistosomes.

Snail hosts abundance mediates the effects of antagonist interactions between trematodes on the transmission of human schistosomes. | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Snail hosts abundance mediates the effects of antagonist interactions between trematodes on the transmission of human schistosomes. Philippe Douchet, Bart Haegeman, Jean-François Allienne, Jérôme Boissier, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4145796/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 Sep, 2024 Read the published version in Infectious Diseases of Poverty → Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: Combating infectious diseases and halting biodiversity loss are intertwined challenges crucial to ensure global health. Biodiversity can constrain the spread of vector-borne pathogens circulation, necessitating a deeper understanding of ecological mechanisms underlying this pattern. Our study evaluates the relative importance of biodiversity and the abundance of Bulinus truncatus, a major intermediate host for the trematode Schistosoma haematobium on the circulation of this human pathogen at aquatic transmission sites. Methods: We combined mathematical modelling and a molecular based empirical study to specifically assess the effect of co-infections between S. haematobium and other trematodes within their B. truncatus snail hosts; and B. truncatus abundance at transmission sites, on the production of S. haematobium infective cercariae stages released into the aquatic environment. Results: Our modelling approach shows that more competitive trematode species exploiting B. truncatus as an intermediate host at the transmission site level leads to higher co-infection rates within snail hosts, subsequently reducing the production of S. haematobium cercariae. Conversely, an increase in B. truncatus abundance results in lower co-infection rates, and a higher proportion of S. haematobium cercariae released into the environment. Our empirical data from the field support these findings, indicating a significant negative effect of local trematode species richness and co-infection rates on the dominance of S. haematobium, while B. truncatus abundance positively influences S. haematobium dominance. Conclusions: Our study highlights the importance of biodiversity in influencing the transmission of S. haematobium through the effect of antagonistic interactions between trematodes within bulinid snail hosts. This effect intensifies when B. truncatus populations are low, promoting co-infections within snails. In line with the need for concrete applications of the One Health concept, we advocate for maintaining high global freshwater biodiversity to sustain global trematode diversity at transmission sites, offering a cost-effective means to significantly reduce schistosome prevalence and intensity while preserving aquatic ecosystem services. Biodiversity Parasites Hosts Abundance Trematodes Schistosomiasis Antagonistic Interaction Transmission Full Text Supplementary Files AdditionalFile1FigureS1.png AdditionalFile2FigureS2.png AdditionalFile3FigureS3.png AdditionalFile4Supplementarymaterial.docx AdditionalFile5divparamain.m AdditionalFile6divpararhs.m AdditionalFile7TableS1.xlsx AdditionalFile8FigureS4.png AdditionalFile9TableS2.xlsx AdditionalFile10TableS3.xlsx AdditionalFile11FigureS5.png Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 Sep, 2024 Read the published version in Infectious Diseases of Poverty → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Major revision 02 May, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Apr, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 01 Apr, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 25 Mar, 2024 First submitted to journal 21 Mar, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4145796","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":286357790,"identity":"cc7c0d41-b343-4bb6-8050-7d239a64d69f","order_by":0,"name":"Philippe 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Biodiversity can constrain the spread of vector-borne pathogens circulation, necessitating a deeper understanding of ecological mechanisms underlying this pattern. Our study evaluates the relative importance of biodiversity and the abundance of Bulinus truncatus, a major intermediate host for the trematode Schistosoma haematobium on the circulation of this human pathogen at aquatic transmission sites.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMethods: We combined mathematical modelling and a molecular based empirical study to specifically assess the effect of co-infections between S. haematobium and other trematodes within their B. truncatus snail hosts; and B. truncatus abundance at transmission sites, on the production of S. haematobium infective cercariae stages released into the aquatic environment.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults: Our modelling approach shows that more competitive trematode species exploiting B. truncatus as an intermediate host at the transmission site level leads to higher co-infection rates within snail hosts, subsequently reducing the production of S. haematobium cercariae. Conversely, an increase in B. truncatus abundance results in lower co-infection rates, and a higher proportion of S. haematobium cercariae released into the environment. Our empirical data from the field support these findings, indicating a significant negative effect of local trematode species richness and co-infection rates on the dominance of S. haematobium, while B. truncatus abundance positively influences S. haematobium dominance.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConclusions: Our study highlights the importance of biodiversity in influencing the transmission of S. haematobium through the effect of antagonistic interactions between trematodes within bulinid snail hosts. This effect intensifies when B. truncatus populations are low, promoting co-infections within snails. In line with the need for concrete applications of the One Health concept, we advocate for maintaining high global freshwater biodiversity to sustain global trematode diversity at transmission sites, offering a cost-effective means to significantly reduce schistosome prevalence and intensity while preserving aquatic ecosystem services.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Snail hosts abundance mediates the effects of antagonist interactions between trematodes on the transmission of human schistosomes.","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-04-04 12:57:02","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4145796/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Major revision","date":"2024-05-02T23:25:55+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"","date":"2024-04-05T14:54:33+00:00","index":0,"fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2024-04-02T00:52:26+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2024-03-25T04:20:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Infectious Diseases of Poverty","date":"2024-03-21T17:24:54+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"infectious-diseases-of-poverty","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"idop","sideBox":"Learn more about [Infectious Diseases of Poverty](http://idpjournal.biomedcentral.com)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/idop/default.aspx","title":"Infectious Diseases of Poverty","twitterHandle":"@BioMedCentral","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"BMC/SO AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"ea767f57-fb2c-4606-b2a6-00f7e3f26521","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 4th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-09-16T16:08:51+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-4145796","link":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40249-024-01232-1","journal":{"identity":"infectious-diseases-of-poverty","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Infectious Diseases of Poverty"},"publishedOn":"2024-09-10 15:57:55","publishedOnDateReadable":"September 10th, 2024"},"versionCreatedAt":"2024-04-04 12:57:02","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1186/s40249-024-01232-1","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s40249-024-01232-1","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4145796","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4145796","identity":"rs-4145796","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}