Risk map of transmission of urogenital schistosomiasis by Bulinus truncatus (Audouin, 1827) (Mollusca Gastropoda, Bulinidae) in Spain and Portugal

A Martínez–Ortí,D Vilavella,S Mas–Coma,M D Bargues

doi:10.32800/abc.2019.42.0257

Abstract

We present a geographical distribution map of Bulinus truncatus based on historical and current localities in Spain and Portugal, that corresponds to the risk map of urogenital schistosomiasis for this freshwater snail. We reviewed samples of the species deposited at the Museu de Ciències Naturals of Barcelona and the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales of Madrid, together with our own data, including some unpublished contributions. This map will help determine the optimal area for this species and identify areas of greatest risk for urogenital schistosomiasis in the two countries. We emphasize that global change and climate change may favour the presence of both the vector (B. truncatus) and the parasite (Schistosoma haematobium) in Spain and Portugal.

Highlights

For a better knowledge of its geographical distribution and the places where it has been historically found in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, we performed an exhaustive review of the samples of this species deposited at the 'Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales' of Madrid (MNCN), the 'Museu de Ciències Naturals' of Barcelona (MCN), and our own data deposited in the Museu Valencià d’Història Natural (MVHN) of Alginet (Valencia), which has allowed us to provide several new locations (Martínez–Ortí, 2017; Uribe and Agulló Villaronga, 2018)
It has not been reported from the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, the Pyrenees or Cantabrian areas despite numerous malacological studies conducted in these areas, In Spain it has been described by several authors from 63 localities near the coast
Of the 32 revised samples of B. truncatus deposited at the MNCN and the MCN, six are unpublished, and two new locations are provided.There are no recent reports of B. truncatus in Portugal

Summary

Introduction

It is of great health interest because most of its species are vectors of parasites that can cause serious diseases in humans, such as schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) (Malek and Cheng, 1974; Brown, 1980). Urogenital schistosomiasis was recently confirmed in the island of Corsica (France), with both the trematode Schistosoma haematobium (Bilharz, 1852) and its vector, the bulinid gastropod mollusc Bulinus truncatus (Audouin, 1827), coexisting (Berry et al, 2014; Holtfreter et al, 2014; Boissier et al, 2015, 2016). It should be noted that the epidemic in Corsica is due to the pure S. haematobium strain and to a hybrid of S. haematobium and S. bovis (Sonsino, 1876), with which the epidemic acquires zoonotic connotations and great potential for dispersion, broadening the spectrum of reservoirs and vectors of the causal agent (Huyse et al, 2009; Boissier et al, 2016; Kincaid–Smith et al, 2017)

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