A preliminary study on intermediate snail hosts of schistosomes in Reiver enyau; Arua District; Uganda

ABSTRACT

A total of 1260 snail intermediate hosts of both Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haemotobium were collected along the non-seasonal river enyau which lies half a kilometre west of Arya; north-western Uganda town. The snails collected were Biomphalaria pfeireri 709 Biomphalaria choanomphala 457; Bulinus tropicus 94. These were screened for cercariae shedding and 25 B. pfeifferi and 12 B. choabomphalal shed mammalian cercaricae while none of the Bulinus) tropicus shed any cercae. River enyau Biomphalaria snails were susceptible to a Schistosoma mansoni strain from Entebbe. Cercariae derived from these snails and also those found infected in the River Enyau were confirmed to be S. mansoni using laboratory mice