Agrochemicals increase risk of human schistosomiasis by supporting higher densities of intermediate hosts.

ABSTRACT: Schistosomiasis is a snail-borne parasitic disease that ranks among the most important water-based diseases of humans in developing countries. Increased prevalence and spread of human schistosomiasis to non-endemic areas has been consistently linked with water resource management related to agricultural expansion. However, the role of agrochemical pollution in human schistosome transmission remains unexplored, despite strong evidence of agrochemicals increasing snail-borne diseases of wildlife and a projected 2- to 5-fold increase in global agrochemical use by 2050. Using a field mesocosm experiment, we show that environmentally relevant concentrations of fertilizer, a herbicide, and an insecticide, individually and as mixtures, increase densities of schistosome-infected snails by increasi

SUBMITTER: Halstead NT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5826950 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature