Revisiting density-dependent fecundity in schistosomes using sibship reconstruction.
File(s)journal.pntd.0009396.pdf (1.53 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Neves, M Inês
Gower, Charlotte M
Webster, Joanne P
Walker, Martin
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The stability of parasite populations is regulated by density-dependent processes occurring at different stages of their life cycle. In dioecious helminth infections, density-dependent fecundity is one such regulatory process that describes the reduction in egg production by female worms in high worm burden within-host environments. In human schistosomiasis, the operation of density-dependent fecundity is equivocal and investigation is hampered by the inaccessibility of adult worms that are located intravascularly. Current understanding is almost exclusively limited to data collected from two human autopsy studies conducted over 40 years ago, with subsequent analyses having reached conflicting conclusions. Whether egg production is regulated in a density-dependent manner is key to predicting the effectiveness of interventions targeting the elimination of schistosomiasis and to the interpretation of parasitological data collected during monitoring and evaluation activities. Here, we revisit density-dependent fecundity in the two most globally important human Schistosoma spp. using a statistical modelling approach that combines molecular inference on the number of parents/adult worms in individual human hosts with parasitological egg count data from mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. We find a non-proportional relationship between S. haematobium egg counts and inferred numbers of female worms, providing the first clear evidence of density-dependent fecundity in this schistosome species. We do not find robust evidence for density-dependent fecundity in S. mansoni because of high sensitivity to some modelling assumptions and the lower statistical power of the available data. We discuss the strengths and limitations of our model-based analytical approach and its potential for improving our understanding of density dependence in schistosomiasis and other human helminthiases earmarked for elimination.
Date Issued
2021-05
Date Acceptance
2021-04-19
Citation
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 2021, 15 (5), pp.1-16
ISSN
1935-2727
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Start Page
1
End Page
16
Journal / Book Title
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Volume
15
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2021 Neves et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33983965
PII: PNTD-D-20-02066
Subjects
06 Biological Sciences
11 Medical and Health Sciences
Tropical Medicine
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2021-05-13