An accident waiting to happen? Exposing the potential of urogenital schistosomiasis transmission in the Lake Albert region, Uganda

Table 1 Observed human activities and abundance of snails at locations in the Lake Albert region of western Uganda where Bulinus globosus and Bulinus nasutus productus were sampled in October and November 2020

Site	GPS coordinates	Observed activities	Bulinus globosus		Bulinus nasutus productus		GenBank no. COX1		GenBank no. ITS rDNA
Site	GPS coordinates	Observed activities	October	November	October	November	‘Folmer’ region	‘Asmit’ region
Bulenge	0.98913°N, 30.71254°E	Bathing, cattle drinking	0	2	0	0	_	_	_
Bwera	0.98388°N, 30.75554°E	Water collection, cattle drinking	20	10	0	0	OR553989; OR553992	OR553988	_
Kolanya	1.01909°N, 30.63013°E	Washing, water collection	54	89	0	0	OR553990; OR553991	OR553985; OR553986; OR553987	OR553999; OR554002
Tegeta	1.04047°N, 30.70325°E	Washing, water collection, swimming	4	9	0	0	_	OR553983; OR553984	_
Tuhumwire	1.05143°N, 30.66487°E	livestock grazing	0	0	40	39^a	OR553993; OR553994; OR553995; OR553996	–	OR554000; OR554001; OR554003
		Total	78	110	40	39

COX1 Cytochrome c oxidase subunit gene, ITS internal transcribed spacer region, rDNA ribosomal DNA
The accession numbers of the sequenced samples for the partial COX1 and ITS rDNA regions are shown. For the ‘Folmer’ region, each species had only one haplotype while three haplotypes, one at each site, were obtained among B. globosus in the ‘Asmit’ region
^aB. nasutus productus at Tuhumwire had a Schistosoma bovis prevalence of 6.25% (n = 32) and 16% (n = 25) as determined by shedding and diagnostic PCR techniques, respectively

ISSN: 1756-3305