{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T15:09:45Z","timestamp":1785424185466,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,30]],"date-time":"2026-03-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1774828800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Center for Biomedical Research in Infectious Diseases Network (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III"},{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ca2c886","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["TropicalMed"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Schistosomiasis remains a significant neglected tropical disease in Kenya, but its presence in the western\/northern Lake Turkana region is poorly characterised. We conducted an exploratory serosurvey to assess evidence of Schistosoma spp. exposure and a diagnostic accuracy study to evaluate dried blood spots (DBSs) for field serology. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional survey in adults (\u226518 years) from six communities in the western\/northern and shoreline area of Turkana Lake, excluding individuals with &gt;6 months of residence in other Kenyan endemic areas. Capillary blood was collected on DBSs and tested centrally using ELISA for Schistosoma spp. IgG. In parallel, DBS cards performance was compared with paired routine serum ELISA in 23 patients assessed for suspected schistosomiasis at our centre. Results: We enrolled 155 participants (60% men; median age 30 years), with nearly universal reported freshwater contact (154\/155, 99.4%). In the validation study, DBS values were lower than serum values (mean bias 0.27), with moderate correlation (r = 0.54) and modest discrimination (AUC 0.65; sensitivity 80% and specificity 50% at OD index &gt;0.8). The median DBS ELISA OD index for the 155 participants was 0.55 (IQR, 0.34\u20130.79). Six samples exceeded 0.8, but these values were low, and all had negative IHA (&lt;1\/80), yielding no confirmed seropositive cases. Conclusions: These findings suggest low or absent sustained transmission in the sampled communities during the study period and indicate that DBS-based serology is operationally feasible but requires careful calibration and confirmatory testing for robust field inference.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/tropicalmed11040091","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,30]],"date-time":"2026-03-30T13:41:53Z","timestamp":1774878113000},"page":"91","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Schistosomiasis in Western Lake Turkana, Kenya: An Exploratory Serosurvey and Validation of Dried Blood Spots for Field Studies"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Andrea","family":"Mij\u00e1n","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Microbiology Department, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Carretera Madrid-Toledo km 12,500, 28905 Getafe, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Oihane","family":"Mart\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Microbiology Department, Hospital Universitario Ram\u00f3n y Cajal (IRYCIS), Carretera de Colmenar km 9100, 28034 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Esther","family":"Ciancas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Ophthalmology Department, Hospital Universitario Ram\u00f3n y Cajal (IRYCIS), Carretera de Colmenar km 9100, 28034 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carmen","family":"Llorente Mart\u00edn","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Primary Care Health Center Collado Villalba Estaci\u00f3n, Calle Los Madro\u00f1os, 5, 28400 Collado Villalba, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-2992-9195","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gilechrist","family":"Lokoel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Turkana County Medical Services, Turkana County Government, Lodwar P.O. Box 11-30500, Kenya"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Lokaala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Turkana County Government, Lodwar P.O. Box 11-30500, Kenya"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daniel","family":"Lokiriama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Turkana Medical Services, Turkana North Sub-County, Turkana County Government, Lodwar P.O. Box 11-30500, Kenya"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sagrario","family":"de la Fuente Hernanz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Microbiology Department, Hospital Universitario Ram\u00f3n y Cajal (IRYCIS), Carretera de Colmenar km 9100, 28034 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mar\u00eda","family":"Llorente de Santiago","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lobur Mobile Clinic, Fundaci\u00f3n Emailakat, Calle Boc\u00e1ngel 28, 3\u00b0dcha, 28028 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-5357-063X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ana Camila","family":"Bertomeu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Microbiology Department, Hospital Universitario Ram\u00f3n y Cajal (IRYCIS), Carretera de Colmenar km 9100, 28034 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8735-4124","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jose A.","family":"Perez-Molina","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBERINFEC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Avenida de Monforte de Lemos 5, 28029 Madrid, Spain"},{"name":"National Reference Centre for Imported Tropical Diseases, Infectious Diseases Department, Hospital Universitario Ram\u00f3n y Cajal (IRYCIS), Carretera de Colmenar km 9100, 28034 Madrid, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e327","DOI":"10.1016\/S1473-3099(22)00221-3","article-title":"Review of 2022 WHO Guidelines on the Control and Elimination of Schistosomiasis","volume":"22","author":"Lo","year":"2022","journal-title":"Lancet Infect. 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