Prevalence of snails and Schistosome cercariae and correlation with meteorological factors in Punjab, Pakistan

Overall 10389 snails were collected from four study areas of Punjab from November 2005 to October 2006. The highest prevalence (38%) was found for Indoplanorbis followed by Physa (17%), Bellamaya (10.3%), Gyraulus (10%), Lymnaea (9.2%), Oncomelania (9%) and the lowest was found for Bulinus (6.7%). Only Indoplanorbis snails were found to be positive for Schistosoma bovis cercaria. Correlation between snails’ infection and meteorological factors like relative humidity (%) and rainfall (mm) were significant (P<0.05) while this correlation was not significant for temperature (°C) and pan evaporation (mm).