Centre for Schistosomiasis and Parasitology
Lead institution for the project, responsible for scientific coordination and field follow up in Cameroon.
CameroonSHIS-CAM
Collaborative research · Cameroon
SHIS-CAM: understanding schistosome hybrids to protect the future of elimination
Human schistosomes can abruptly change their genetic make up by hybridising with schistosomes carried by livestock. These new forms may raise the risk of reinfection and weaken control strategies that target people alone.
SHIS-CAM is an eight year programme led by the Centre for Schistosomiasis and Parasitology, supported by a Wellcome Discovery Award. Working with partners in France and the United Kingdom, it maps the disease in people and in livestock, follows schoolchildren receiving twice yearly treatment over five years, and builds the evidence needed to accelerate elimination in Central Africa.
CSP · Cameroon
University of Yaoundé I
IHPE · France
University of Perpignan
LSTM · United Kingdom
The project
Species hybridisation and interactions in schistosomes in Cameroon
SHIS-CAM is a research programme dedicated to the study of hybrid schistosomes, the forms that arise when different schistosome species cross, and to their potential consequences for schistosomiasis control and elimination strategies.
Led in Cameroon by the Centre for Schistosomiasis and Parasitology (CSP), the project builds on an international collaboration with the IHPE unit, Host, Pathogen and Environment Interactions, in France, and with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) in the United Kingdom.
The investigation combines field surveillance, longitudinal follow up of treated populations and advanced molecular tools, in order to shed new light on the long term impact of these hybrids on human and animal health.
International collaboration
Three institutions, one shared ambition
SHIS-CAM brings together complementary expertise in parasitology, population genetics and transmission ecology, around a common goal: understanding hybrid schistosomes better in order to preserve the effectiveness of elimination strategies.
Host, Pathogen and Environment Interactions
Research unit contributing its expertise in evolutionary genetics and in the biology of host parasite interactions.
France
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Leading institution in tropical medicine, contributing to the epidemiological design and to data analysis.
United Kingdom
What we study
Three research objectives
Each strand of the programme answers its own question, at the national scale as well as at the molecular level.
Mapping the extent of schistosomes
Assessing the national extent and epidemiology of schistosomes in humans and livestock, with a particular focus on the S. haematobium complex.
Epidemiology
Human health
Animal health
Tracking hybrid persistence under treatment
Within a five year longitudinal study offering biannual preventive chemotherapy, testing whether hybrid emergence persists without a significant reduction in the effect of treatment.
Longitudinal study
Preventive chemotherapy
Exploring new surveillance frameworks
Exploring new frameworks for the surveillance of environmental transmission and experimental infections, drawing on GPS mapping of livestock and eDNA monitoring of the aquatic environment.
GPS mapping
eDNA surveillance
How it unfolds
A study built over time
Phase 1
National survey
Assessment of the extent and spread of hybrid schistosomes in humans and livestock across the country.
Phase 2
Five year longitudinal follow up
Rollout of biannual preventive chemotherapy and monitoring of how hybrids evolve within treated populations.
Phase 3
Environmental surveillance
Deployment of GPS mapping and eDNA detection tools to track transmission in the aquatic environment.
Phase 4
Sharing the results
Dissemination of scientific findings to the research community and to those working on schistosomiasis control.
Our approach
A One Health collaboration
SHIS-CAM fosters a One Health collaboration between the partner countries, Cameroon, the United Kingdom and France, linking human health, animal health and environmental surveillance.
This integrated approach makes it possible to follow the circulation of hybrid schistosomes across different hosts and habitats, and to better anticipate their impact on elimination efforts.
Human
health Animal
health Environment
health Animal
health Environment