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 running from 2023 to 2031, led by the Centre for Schistosomiasis and Parasitology and 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.
University of Perpignan Via Domitia, IHPE
Host, Pathogen and Environment Interactions (IHPE) is a joint research unit of CNRS, Ifremer and the Universities of Perpignan and Montpellier, hosted on the Perpignan campus. It contributes its expertise in evolutionary genetics and in the biology of host parasite interactions, through its MIA team on the micro evolution of interactions in the Anthropocene.
France
Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Leading institution in tropical medicine, contributing to the epidemiological design and to data analysis.
United Kingdom
The team
The researchers behind the programme
SHIS-CAM is carried by named investigators in the three partner countries, bringing together medical parasitology, veterinary science, evolutionary genetics and molecular diagnostics around a single research agenda.
Prof Louis-Albert Tchuem Tchuenté
Project leadProfessor of parasitology at the University of Yaoundé I and head of the Centre for Schistosomiasis and Parasitology, leading the scientific coordination of the programme in Cameroon.
CSP, University of Yaoundé I · CameroonProf Jérôme Boissier
Evolutionary geneticsResearcher at IHPE, Université de Perpignan, working on the evolution of schistosome populations and on the biology of host parasite interactions.
IHPE · FranceProf J Russell Stothard
Medical parasitologyMedical parasitologist specialising in schistosomiasis, contributing to the epidemiological design of the programme and to its long term study framework.
LSTM · United KingdomDr Alexandra Juhász
Veterinary parasitologyVeterinary parasitologist, bringing the livestock side of the One Health design, from field sampling in cattle to the interpretation of animal infections.
LSTM · United KingdomDr Lucas Cunningham
Molecular diagnosticsMolecular epidemiologist developing the assays used to detect hybrid signatures in clinical and environmental samples, and to report the first study findings.
LSTM · 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. The share of the programme devoted to each objective, and the years over which it runs, are shown alongside.
Mapping the extent of schistosomes
Determining the national magnitude and epidemiology of hybrid schistosomes in humans and in livestock, with a particular focus on the S. haematobium group, and mapping how distribution in livestock overlaps with areas of higher prevalence in people to identify where hybrids evolve fastest.
Epidemiology
Human health
Animal health
National mapping
Risk areas
Tracking hybrid persistence under treatment
Within a five year longitudinal study offering biannual preventive chemotherapy, testing whether hybrid emergence persists without sufficient abate, while noting any significant shifts in infection by age or gender, in host morbidity and in treatment efficacy.
Longitudinal study
Preventive chemotherapy
Age and gender
Morbidity
Treatment efficacy
Exploring new surveillance frameworks
Exploring new frameworks for environmental transmission surveillance and experimental infections, drawing on GPS mapping of livestock and on aquatic habitat profiling with advanced eDNA metabarcoding, collectively tracking schistosome and snail signatures and their cross interactions.
GPS mapping
eDNA metabarcoding
Aquatic habitats
Snail hosts
Experimental infections
How it unfolds
A study built over time
The four phases of the programme do not follow one another in sequence. The national survey opens the way, then the longitudinal follow up and the environmental surveillance run side by side over seven years.
Each bar shows the years during which a phase is active
Opening survey, years 1 to 3
Long running field work, years 2 to 8
Continuous activity
Phase 1
National survey
Assessment of the extent and spread of hybrid schistosomes in humans and livestock across the country.
Years 1 to 3, 2023 to 2026
Phase 2
Five year longitudinal follow up
Rollout of biannual preventive chemotherapy and monitoring of how hybrids evolve within treated populations.
Years 2 to 8, 2024 to 2031
Phase 3
Environmental surveillance
Deployment of GPS mapping and eDNA detection tools to track transmission in the aquatic environment.
Years 2 to 8, 2024 to 2031
Phase 4
Sharing the results
Dissemination of scientific findings to the research community and to those working on schistosomiasis control.
Throughout the programmeMilestones so far
February 2025
SHIS-CAM presented at the Royal Society
The programme was introduced at the scientific meeting on the importance of hybrid schistosomes in Africa, held in London on 3 and 4 February 2025.
Demo date
First national survey round completed
Baseline sampling closed in the opening study districts, covering human, livestock and environmental compartments in the same localities.
Demo date
Molecular platform brought online in Yaoundé
Hybrid detection assays established in the CSP laboratory, allowing samples to be processed in Cameroon rather than shipped abroad.
Where we work
One network, three compartments
SHIS-CAM samples people, livestock and water in the same localities. The table below lists each study site and shows which compartments are covered there, so that a hybrid signature found in one can be traced in the others.
Study site
Region
Human
Livestock
Environment
Site name 1
Region
Human
Livestock
Environment
Site name 2
Region
Human
Livestock
Environment
Site name 3
Region
Human
Livestock
Environment
Site name 4
Region
Human
Livestock
Environment
Site name 5
Region
Human
Livestock
Environment
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
News and resources
Follow the programme
SHIS-CAM is documented by its funder, by its partner institutions and by the wider research community. The references below give direct access to the official record of the award and to the science it builds on.
- Wellcome grant record Official summary, grantholders and objectives Check the website
- Global Schistosomiasis Alliance Announcement of the award, in French and English Check the website
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine Hybrid infections that may threaten elimination strategies Check the website
- IHPE, Université de Perpignan Project listing of the MIA research team Check the website
- Royal Society scientific meeting Hybrid schistosomes in Africa, London, February 2025 Check the website
- Hybridisation and genetic diversity in Cameroon Infectious Diseases of Poverty, 2022 Check the website