Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) Detection of <i>Schistosoma Haematobium</i> Cercariae in Water Samples from Ogun – Osun River Basin Authority, Oyan Dam, Abeokuta

Abstract

Despite decades of prevention and control efforts, the water-borne parasitic disease schistosomiasis is still endemic in 74 countries of the developing nations of the world. It is known that five species of the Schistosoma trematode are pathogenic to humans; S. haematobium is one of these infective agents of schistosomiasis in Nigeria. This study investigated the levels of prepatent S. haematobium infection in water samples collected from transmission sites in Oyan Dam in Ogun Osun River Basin Authority, Abeokuta, Nigeria, using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay amplifying the DNA I repeated sequence of S. haematobium cercariae from the water samples. Samples of cercariae obtained from a laboratory population of (Bulinus globosus and Bulinus rohlfsi) snail intermediate hosts were assayed following DNA extraction as control. The results demonstrated that Oyan Dam area was still an highly S. haematobium endemic environment and also that PCR assay is sensitive enough and possess capability of detecting the presence of as little as one cercaria in water sample, does not require matured infection for positive signal and is not inhibited by additional organic matter contaminants such as those found in local creek water. On the known strength of focal effects of environmental conditions, implications of these results in the epidemiology and design of control activities are very encouraging.

Keywords: PCR, Cercaria, Schistosomiasis, Oyan Dam, Bulinus

Nigerian Journal of Parasitology, Vol. 32 [2] September 2011, pp. 265-269