Molluscicidal effectiveness of Luo-Wei, a novel plant-derived molluscicide, against Oncomelania hupensis, Biomphalaria alexandrina and Bulinus truncatus

Background Control of snail intermediate hostshas been proved to be a fast and efficient approach for interrupting the transmission of schistosomiasis. Some plant extracts have shown obvious molluscicidalactivity, and a new compound Luo-Wei, also named tea-seed distilled saponin(TDS), was developed based on the saponinsextracted from Camellia oleiferaseeds. We aimed to test the molluscicidalactivity of 4% TDS against the intermediate host snailsin China and Egypt, and evaluate its environmental safety to non-target organisms.