Metabolomics of Bilharziasis

Bilharziasis, a disease that is a major health problem in tropical and subtropical countries, is caused by worms of the genus Schistosoma. The main disease-causing species are S. haematobium, S. mansoni and S. japonicum. Bilharziasis is endemic in South Africa, mostly located in the north-east and covers one quarter of the country, with S. haematobium being the most common species. In this investigation we investigated the schistosome-induced changes in human hosts. We systematically investigated the dynamic metabolic profile of humans infected with S. haematobium using an untargeted gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolomics approach, including univariate and multivariate data analysis. The analysis of host urinary composition is a well suited approach to understand the holistic metabolic responses to infections, since metabolomics is a branch of science concerned with the metabolite composition of biological systems and its dynamic response to both endogenous (i.e. physiology and development) and exogenous (i.e. environmental factors and xenobiotics) stimuli. As a holistic approach, metabonomics detects, quantifies an