{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T19:00:43Z","timestamp":1790017243818,"version":"4.0.1"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014694","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,21]],"date-time":"2026-09-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789948800000}}],"reference-count":35,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789084800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosntds.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Negl Trop Dis"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) and high-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) infections frequently co-occur in sub-Saharan Africa and may jointly contribute to cervical carcinogenesis. However, no existing molecular platform enables simultaneous detection of\n                      <jats:italic>Schistosoma haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n                      and hr-HPV from a single cervical specimen.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      A multiplex quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assay targeting the\n                      <jats:italic>S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n                      Dra1 repeat and seven hr-HPV genotypes (16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, 58) was developed and validated. Analytical performance was assessed using HPV reference plasmids from the International HPV Reference Centre and biobanked\n                      <jats:italic>S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n                      DNA from the Centre for Research in Applied Biology (CeRAB), Ghana. Clinical performance was evaluated using 217 archived cervical swabs from high-risk women enrolled in the CERVIVAL project in rural Ghana.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The assay showed a limit of detection of 10 copies\/\u00b5L for all targets, with no cross-reactivity to non-target HPV genotypes, common uropathogenic bacteria, or\n                      <jats:italic>Schistosoma mansoni<\/jats:italic>\n                      . In reference panels, positive and negative agreement were 98.2% and 100% for\n                      <jats:italic>S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n                      and 100% for both sensitivity and specificity across all hr-HPV genotypes. In the 217 high-risk cervical samples,\n                      <jats:italic>S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n                      DNA was detected in 56.7% (123\/217). HPV58 (19.8%), HPV16 (14.7%), and HPV52 (12.4%) were the most frequent genotypes. Concordance with visual inspection\/microscopy for FGS was 93.6% (\u03ba\u2009=\u20090.87), and concordance with a molecular HPV test (ScreenFire HPV) ranged from 90.3% to 99.5% (\u03ba\u2009=\u20090.80\u20130.95) across HPV channels. The assay identified 11 additional\n                      <jats:italic>S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2013positive samples that were negative by visual inspection\/microscopy.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The multiplex qPCR assay provides a highly sensitive and practical tool for integrated detection of\n                      <jats:italic>S. haematobium<\/jats:italic>\n                      and hr-HPV from a single cervical sample. Its compatibility with standard qPCR platforms and strong agreement with established diagnostic methods support its potential use in FGS and cervical cancer screening programmes in resource-limited, co-endemic settings.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pntd.0014694","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,11]],"date-time":"2026-09-11T17:53:21Z","timestamp":1789149201000},"page":"e0014694","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pntd.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Development of a multiplex quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assay for simultaneous detection of Schistosoma haematobium and high-risk human papillomaviruses"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"20","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7476-4578","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Emmanuel Timmy","family":"Donkoh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Energy and 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