Diagnosis, Monitoring, and Control of Schistosomiasis-An Update

Schistosomiasis is a neglected disease of tropics and subtropics, which has been associated with illness and death of millions of people, especially children. Although, excessive use of anthelmintic drugs and improvement of sanitation procedures have been in practice, yet timely detection, and diagnosis of low-intensity infections, are of utmost importance for reducing morbidity and final elimination of the disease. The diagnosis methods, currently being used for schistosomiasis, have several limitations, hence warrant further investigations for development of novel detection methods with higher rapidity, reliability, and convenience. Nanoparticles have widely been used in bioassays, because of their low-cost, high sensitivity and rapidity. Nano-diagnosis of schistosomiasis is a potential prospect, so this review described the application of nanotechnology for detection of antigen, antibody and the nucleic acid of Schistosoma. Furthermore, the techniques described in this review included magnetic affinity enzyme-linked immunoassay, colloidal gold, nanotechnology-based screen-printed biosensors, and electrochemical genosensors, etc. Moreover, the prospects and obstacles in the development of nanoparticle-based sensors for diagnosis of schistosomiasis were discussed. Finally, this study will provide the basis for nanoparticle-based detection and control of schistosomiasis, thus helping the improvement of public health.