Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease that affects over 250 million people worldwide and is caused by parasitic flatworms known as schistosomes. Miracidia, the first larval stage of schistosomes, infect snails as intermediate hosts, where they mature into a larval stage capable of infecting humans. Although it is not definitively known how miracidia locate snails, they have been shown to detect and interpret light to navigate their environment. The purpose of this study was to analyze the movement of Schistosoma mansoni miracidia in response to the presence of light and to different wavelengths of light. Miracidia were loaded onto rectangular arenas and exposed to light gradients, including white, red, blue, and/or green light. The miracidia were recorded for 1 hour and tracked using custom code. As expected, and consistent with previous work, miracidia are photoattracted. Notably, preliminary results indicate that they prefer blue over red light but have no apparent preference between blue and green light. Future experiments will explore the integration of their light and chemical perception. Understanding this sensory coordination could be key to developing new strategies to reduce schistosome populations and the spread of schistosomiasis.
