Abstract
Seawater intrusion associated with decreasing groundwater levels and rising seawater levels may affect freshwater species and their parasites. While brackish water certainly impacts freshwater systems globally, its impact on disease transmission is largely unknown. This study examined the effect of artificial seawater on host-parasite interactions using a freshwater snail host, Biomphalaria alexandrina, and the human trematode parasite Schistosoma mansoni. To evaluate the impact of increasing salinity on disease transmission four variables were analyzed: snail survival, snail reproduction, infection prevalence, and the survival of the parasite infective stage (cercariae). We found a decrease in snail survival, snail egg mass production, and snail infection prevalence as salinity increases. However, cercarial survival peaked at an intermediate salinity value. Our results suggest that seawater intrusion into freshwaters has the potential to decrease schistosome transmission to humans.
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Reference65 articles.
1. Centuries of thermal sea-level rise due to anthropogenic emissions of short-lived greenhouse gases;K Zickfeld;Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,2017
2. Increased salinization of fresh water in the Northeastern United States;SS Kaushal;Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,2005
3. Effects of salinity on multiplication and transmission of an intertidal trematode parasite;F Lei;Mar Biol,2011
4. Ecological consequences of parasitism;D Preston;In: Nature Education Knowledge,2010
5. Antagonism between parasites within snail hosts impacts the transmission of human schistosomiasis;MR Laidemitt;Elife,2019
Cited by
4 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献，注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献，订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献