Within schistosomiasis control, assessing environmental risk of currently non-treated demographic groups e.g. pre-school-aged children (PSAC) and their mothers is important. We conducted a pilot micro-epidemiological assessment at the crater lake of Barombi Kotto, Cameroon with GPS tracking and infection data from 12 PSAC-mother pairs (n = 24) overlaid against environmental sampling inclusive of snail, parasite and water-use information. Several high-risk locations or ‘hotspots’ with elevated water contact, increased intermediate snail host densities and detectable schistosome environmental DNA (eDNA) were identified. Exposure between PSAC and mother pairs was temporally and spatially associated, suggesting interventions which can benefit both groups simultaneously might be feasible. When attempting to interrupt parasite transmission in future, overlaid maps of snail, parasite and water contact data can guide fine-scale spatial targeting of environmental interventions.

在血吸虫病控制范围内，评估当前未接受治疗的人口群体（如学龄前儿童（PSAC）及其母亲）的环境风险很重要。我们在喀麦隆Barombi Kotto火山口湖进行了微流行病学试验，利用GPS跟踪和来自12对PSAC-母亲对的感染数据（n = 24）与包括蜗牛，寄生虫和用水信息在内的环境采样重叠。与水接触增加，中间蜗牛宿主密度增加和血吸虫环境DNA（eDNA）可检测到的几个高风险地点或“热点”被确定。PSAC和母对之间的暴露在时间和空间上相关，这表明可以同时使两组受益的干预措施是可行的。在将来尝试中断寄生虫传播时，蜗牛，寄生虫和水接触数据的叠加图可以指导对环境干预措施进行精细的空间定位。