{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T07:30:56Z","timestamp":1785310256840,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,19]],"date-time":"2022-08-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1660867200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["TropicalMed"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The freshwater snail genus Bulinus plays a vital role in transmitting parasites of the Schistosoma haematobium group. A hybrid schistosome between S. haematobium and S. mattheei has been recently detected using DNA-based identification methods in school children along the Lake Malawi shoreline in Mangochi District. This finding raised the need for contemporary revaluation of local interactions between schistosomes and snails, with a particular focus on snail species within the Bulinus africanus group. In 2017 and 2018, malacological surveys sampled several freshwater sites in Mangochi District. Collected snails (n = 250) were characterised using cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1), with DNA barcoding of the \u2018Folmer\u2019 region and a rapid PCR-RFLP typing assay with double digestion with HaeIII and SacI restriction enzymes. DNA cox1 sequence analysis, with phylogenetic tree construction, suggested the presence of at least three B. africanus group taxa in Lake Malawi, B. globosus, alongside first reports of B. africanus and B. angolensis, which can be differentiated by PCR-RFLP methods. In addition, a total of 30 of the 106 B. africanus group snails (28.30%) were positive to the Schistosoma-specific screen using real-time PCR methods. This study provides new insight into the recent changes in the epidemiology of urogenital schistosomiasis as likely driven by a new diversity of B. africanus group snails within the Lake.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/tropicalmed7080195","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,22]],"date-time":"2022-08-22T01:56:40Z","timestamp":1661133400000},"page":"195","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["First Molecular Identification of Bulinus africanus in Lake Malawi Implicated in Transmitting Schistosoma Parasites"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"7","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6399-3930","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammad H.","family":"Alharbi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK"},{"name":"Ministry of Health, Buraydah 52367, Saudi Arabia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cynthia","family":"Iravoga","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sekeleghe A.","family":"Kayuni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK"},{"name":"MASM Medi Clinics Limited, Medical Society of Malawi (MASM), Lilongwe P.O. Box 1254, Malawi"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lucas","family":"Cunningham","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"E. James","family":"LaCourse","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1198-1655","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter","family":"Makaula","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research for Health, Environment and Development (RHED), Mangochi P.O. Box 345, Malawi"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9370-3420","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"J. Russell","family":"Stothard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Tropical Disease Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.1017\/S0031182001008046","article-title":"Interactions between intermediate snail hosts of the genus Bulinus and schistosomes of the Schistosoma haematobium group","volume":"123","author":"Rollinson","year":"2001","journal-title":"Parasitology"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1245","DOI":"10.3201\/eid2506.190020","article-title":"Schistosome interactions within the Schistosoma haematobium group, Malawi","volume":"25","author":"Webster","year":"2019","journal-title":"Emerg. Infect. Dis."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jamieson, B.G. (2017). 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