Ecology of snail parasites in the central plateau region of burkina faso, West Africa

Snail was invertebrate host of many parasites including trematode, nematode and annelid. Trematode are endoparasites that present a complex life cycle, generally involving an intermediate invertebrate host and a vertebrate host. Many studies have focused on the diversity of trematodes in molluscs in several countries of the world. But research on mollusc parasites is little addressed in Africa, especially in West Africa. The aim of this study was to conduct a freshwater snail survey to assess the diversity and the relation with a focus on habitat types and their parasites infections. Snails were collected in different areas of central plateau region and examined. A total of 936 individuals’ snail was collected and classified into four families, 6 genera, and 8 species. Snail diversity was higher in soil. The most abundant species was Melanoides tuberculata, representing 23.08% of the sample and the reservoir of Loumbila records the abundant and diversity of snail species. Three species of snail were free of parasites. They are Biomphalaria Pfeifferi, Bulinus joussemei and Melanoides tuberculata. The harvested parasites are divided into two groups that are the trematodes (12 species) and Annelids (1 specie) with an overall rate of 6.60%. The Shannon diversity index showed that parasitic diversity varied between the two sites based on infected hosts, micro-habitats and seasonal periods. Cleopatrasp presented the highest diversity of parasite among the species of gastropods collected. The infection rate varied according to the collection months and according to the micro-habitats. Lecithodendriumsp only had an aggregated distribution during this study.