Introgressive hybridization of Schistosoma haematobium group species in Senegal: species barrier break down between ruminant and human schistosomes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Schistosomes are dioecious parasitic flatworms, which live in the vasculature of their mammalian definitive hosts. They are the causative agent of schistosomiasis, a disease of considerable medical and veterinary importance in tropical and subtropical regions. Schistosomes undergo a sexual reproductive stage within their mammalian host enabling interactions between different species, which may result in hybridization if the species involved are phylogenetically close. In Senegal, three closely related species in the Schistosoma haematobium group are endemic: S. haematobium, which causes urogenital schistosomiasis in humans, and S. bovis and S. curassoni, which cause intestinal schistosomiasis in cows, sheep and goats.

Methodology/principal findings

Large-scale mul

SUBMITTER: Webster BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3617179 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature