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The LCNTDR Collection: Advances in scientific research for NTD control

The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a diverse group of 17 communicable diseases which occur primarily in tropical and subtropical climates, affecting over 149 countries and one billion people globally. These diseases are considered “neglected” because they disproportionately affect people living in poverty, and until recently, were largely overlooked by the international community. Over the past several years, there have been major advances in the areas of advocacy, control implementation funding, and drug donation for NTDs. Many new tools are available for NTD diagnosis and control, and the goal of controlling, or in some cases, eliminating them as a public health problem is becoming more feasible. In order to ensure the most effective and efficient use of the monetary and pharmaceutical commitments to the fight against NTDs, evidence-based research (performed in conjunction with country-based control implementation programmes) must constantly be taking place to evaluate NTD control strategies.

The London Centre for Neglected Tropical Disease Research (LCNTDR) was launched in 2013 with the aim of providing focused operational and research support for NTD control. The LCNTDR, a joint initiative of the Natural History Museum, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Royal Veterinary College, the Partnership for Child Development, the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, and Imperial College London, undertakes interdisciplinary research to build the evidence base around the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of NTD control and elimination programmes.

This series features recent advances in scientific research for NTD control executed by LCNTDR member institutions and their collaborators. It aims to highlight the wide range of work being undertaken by the LCNTDR towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals as well as supporting the objectives of the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Collection published: 27 January 2016

View all collections published in Parasites & Vectors


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  1. Trachoma, caused by ocular Chlamydia trachomatis, is the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Sudan first reported trachoma in the 1930s and has since been consistently endemic. Ocular C. trachomatis ...

    Authors: Abdulazeem Abdulsalam Ibrahim Alkhidir, Martin J. Holland, Wafa Ibrahim Elhag, Charlotte A. Williams, Judith Breuer, Abdah Elfatih Elemam, Khalid Mohamed Khalid El Hussain, Mohammed Elfatih Hussein Ournasseir and Harry Pickering

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:518

    Content type: Research

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  2. Accurate diagnosis of urogenital schistosomiasis is vital for surveillance and control programmes. While a number of diagnostic techniques are available there is a need for simple, rapid and highly sensitive p...

    Authors: Penelope Rostron, Tom Pennance, Faki Bakar, David Rollinson, Stefanie Knopp, Fiona Allan, Fatma Kabole, Said M. Ali, Shaali M. Ame and Bonnie L. Webster

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:514

    Content type: Short report

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  3. National deworming programmes rely almost exclusively on mass drug administration (MDA) to children to control morbidity caused by these parasitic infections. The provision of other interventions, consisting o...

    Authors: Kalkidan Mekete, Alison Ower, Julia Dunn, Heven Sime, Gemechu Tadesse, Ebba Abate, Nebiyu Nigussu, Fikreselasie Seife, Emily McNaughton, Roy Malcolm Anderson and Anna Elizabeth Phillips

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:503

    Content type: Research

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  4. Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease, targeted by the World Health Organization for reduction in morbidity by 2020. It is caused by parasitic flukes that spread through contamination of local water ...

    Authors: Benjamin S. Collyer, Hugo C. Turner, T. Déirdre Hollingsworth and Matt J. Keeling

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:499

    Content type: Research

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  5. Sound knowledge of the abundance and distribution of intermediate host snails is key to understanding schistosomiasis transmission and to inform effective interventions in endemic areas.

    Authors: Muriel Rabone, Joris Hendrik Wiethase, Fiona Allan, Anouk Nathalie Gouvras, Tom Pennance, Amina Amadou Hamidou, Bonnie Lee Webster, Rabiou Labbo, Aidan Mark Emery, Amadou Djirmay Garba and David Rollinson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:498

    Content type: Research

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  6. Mass drug administration (MDA) with azithromycin is a cornerstone of the trachoma elimination strategy. Although the global prevalence of active trachoma has declined considerably, prevalence persists or even ...

    Authors: Emma M. Harding-Esch, Martin J. Holland, Jean-François Schémann, Ansumana Sillah, Boubacar Sarr, Linus Christerson, Harry Pickering, Sandra Molina-Gonzalez, Isatou Sarr, Aura A. Andreasen, David Jeffries, Chris Grundy, David C. W. Mabey, Bjorn Herrmann and Robin L. Bailey

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:497

    Content type: Research

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  7. The strategy of pooling stool specimens has been extensively used in the field of parasitology in order to facilitate the screening of large numbers of samples whilst minimizing the prohibitive cost of single ...

    Authors: Marina Papaiakovou, James Wright, Nils Pilotte, Darren Chooneea, Fabian Schär, James E. Truscott, Julia C. Dunn, Iain Gardiner, Judd L. Walson, Steven A. Williams and D. Timothy J. Littlewood

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:443

    Content type: Research

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  8. As many countries with endemic soil-transmitted helminth (STH) burdens achieve high coverage levels of mass drug administration (MDA) to treat school-aged and pre-school-aged children, understanding the detail...

    Authors: James E. Truscott, Alison K. Ower, Marleen Werkman, Katherine Halliday, William E. Oswald, Paul M. Gichuki, Carlos Mcharo, Simon Brooker, Sammy M. Njenga, Charles Mwandariwo, Judd L. Walson, Rachel Pullan and Roy Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:442

    Content type: Research

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  9. Sibship reconstruction is a form of parentage analysis that can be used to identify the number of helminth parental genotypes infecting individual hosts using genetic data on only their offspring. This has the...

    Authors: M. Inês Neves, Joanne P. Webster and Martin Walker

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:441

    Content type: Research

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  10. The baseline endemicity profile of lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a key benchmark for planning control programmes, monitoring their impact on transmission and assessing the feasibility of achieving elimination. ...

    Authors: Obiora A. Eneanya, Claudio Fronterre, Ifeoma Anagbogu, Chukwu Okoronkwo, Tini Garske, Jorge Cano and Christl A. Donnelly

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:440

    Content type: Research

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  11. Schistosomiasis and food-borne trematodiases are not only of major public health concern, but can also have profound implications for livestock production and wildlife conservation. The zoonotic, multi-host na...

    Authors: Stefano Catalano, Amelia Symeou, Kirsty J. Marsh, Anna Borlase, Elsa Léger, Cheikh B. Fall, Mariama Sène, Nicolas D. Diouf, Davide Ianniello, Giuseppe Cringoli, Laura Rinaldi, Khalilou Bâ and Joanne P. Webster

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:439

    Content type: Research

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  12. Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections affect predominantly socio-economically disadvantaged populations in sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Americas. Previous mathematical modelling studies have eval...

    Authors: Carolin Vegvari, James E. Truscott, Klodeta Kura and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:438

    Content type: Research

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  13. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set elimination (interruption of transmission) as an end goal for schistosomiasis. However, there is currently little guidance on the monitoring and evaluation strategy ...

    Authors: Jaspreet Toor, James E. Truscott, Marleen Werkman, Hugo C. Turner, Anna E. Phillips, Charles H. King, Graham F. Medley and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:437

    Content type: Research

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  14. Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan agent of Chagas disease, is comprised of at least 6 genetic lineages (TcI-TcVI). Their geographical distribution, clinical associations and reservoir hosts are not fully elucidate...

    Authors: Niamh Murphy, Natalia P. Macchiaverna, M. Victoria Cardinal, Tapan Bhattacharyya, Pascal Mertens, Nicolas Zeippen, Yves Gustin, Quentin Gilleman, Ricardo E. Gürtler and Michael A. Miles

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:424

    Content type: Research

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  15. Urine filtration and microhaematuria reagent strips are basic standard diagnostic methods to detect urogenital schistosomiasis. We assessed their accuracy for the diagnosis of light intensity infections with Schi...

    Authors: Stefanie Knopp, Shaali M Ame, Jan Hattendorf, Said M Ali, Iddi S Khamis, Faki Bakar, Mwanaidi A Khamis, Bobbie Person, Fatma Kabole and David Rollinson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:552

    Content type: Research

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    The Correction to this article has been published in Parasites & Vectors 2019 12:149

  16. Infections with soil-transmitted helminths and pathogenic intestinal protozoa pose a considerable public health burden, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, including Nepal. We assessed the extent...

    Authors: Akina Shrestha, Christian Schindler, Peter Odermatt, Jana Gerold, Séverine Erismann, Subodh Sharma, Rajendra Koju, Jürg Utzinger and Guéladio Cissé

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:532

    Content type: Research

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  17. Biting aquatic insects belonging to the order Hemiptera have been suggested as potential vectors of Mycobacterium ulcerans in endemic areas for Buruli ulcer (BU). If this is the case, these insects would be expec...

    Authors: Jorge Cano, Antonio Rodríguez, Hope Simpson, Earnest N. Tabah, Jose F. Gómez and Rachel L. Pullan

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:501

    Content type: Research

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  18. In 2012, the World Health Organization set goals for the elimination of onchocerciasis transmission by 2020 in selected African countries. Epidemiological data and mathematical modelling have indicated that el...

    Authors: Isobel Routledge, Martin Walker, Robert A. Cheke, Samir Bhatt, Pierre Baleguel Nkot, Graham A. Matthews, Didier Baleguel, Hans M. Dobson, Terry L. Wiles and Maria-Gloria Basañez

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:316

    Content type: Research

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  20. Clinical signs of active (inflammatory) trachoma are found in many children in the Solomon Islands, but the majority of these individuals have no serological evidence of previous infection with Chlamydia trachoma...

    Authors: Hristina Vasileva, Robert Butcher, Harry Pickering, Oliver Sokana, Kelvin Jack, Anthony W. Solomon, Martin J. Holland and Chrissy h. Roberts

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:104

    Content type: Research

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  21. Trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness worldwide, is caused by conjunctival Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Trachoma is diagnosed clinically by observation of conjunctival inflammation and/or scarri...

    Authors: Harry Pickering, Martin J. Holland, Anna R. Last, Matthew J. Burton and Sarah E. Burr

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:102

    Content type: Research

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  22. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected tropical disease (NTD), caused by the intracellular protozoan parasites Leishmania donovani and Leishmania infantum. Symptomatic VL is considered fatal when left untreat...

    Authors: Francisco J. Salguero, Waldo L. Garcia-Jimenez, Isadora Lima and Karin Seifert

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:73

    Content type: Research

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  23. Onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis (LF) are major filarial infections targeted for elimination in most endemic sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries by 2020/2025. The current control strategies are built upo...

    Authors: Jorge Cano, Maria-Gloria Basáñez, Simon J. O’Hanlon, Afework H. Tekle, Samuel Wanji, Honorat G. Zouré, Maria P. Rebollo and Rachel L. Pullan

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:70

    Content type: Short report

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  25. The human helminth infections include ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm infections, schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis (LF) and onchocerciasis. It is estimated that almost 2 billion people worldwide are in...

    Authors: James E. Wright, Marleen Werkman, Julia C. Dunn and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2018 11:65

    Content type: Review

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  26. Trachoma, a neglected tropical disease, is caused by ocular infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct). The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends three annual rounds of community mass drug treatment with azit...

    Authors: Anna R. Last, Sarah E. Burr, Emma Harding-Esch, Eunice Cassama, Meno Nabicassa, Chrissy h. Roberts, David C. W. Mabey, Martin J. Holland and Robin L. Bailey

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:624

    Content type: Research

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  27. Schistosoma mansoni is a parasite of profound medical importance. Current control focusses on mass praziquantel (PZQ) treatment of populations in endemic areas, termed Preventative Che...

    Authors: Charlotte M. Gower, Florian Gehre, Sara R. Marques, Poppy H. L. Lamberton, Nicholas J. Lwambo and Joanne P. Webster

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:593

    Content type: Research

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  28. Investigating the effect of successive annual deworming rounds on the spatiotemporal distribution of infection prevalence and numbers at risk for soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) can help identify communities...

    Authors: Mohamad Assoum, Giuseppina Ortu, Maria-Gloria Basáñez, Colleen Lau, Archie C. A. Clements, Kate Halton, Alan Fenwick and Ricardo J. Soares Magalhães

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:583

    Content type: Research

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  29. Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are still highly prevalent in southeast Asia. The country of Myanmar has had ongoing mass drug administration (MDA) programmes since 2003 in an attempt to control STH and reduc...

    Authors: Julia C. Dunn, Alison A. Bettis, Nay Yee Wyine, Aye Moe Moe Lwin, Soe Thiha Lwin, Khine Khine Su, Myint Myint Sein, Aung Tun, Nay Soe Maung and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:374

    Content type: Research article

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  30. There is an increased focus on whether mass drug administration (MDA) programmes alone can interrupt the transmission of soil-transmitted helminths (STH). Mathematical models can be used to model these interve...

    Authors: James E. Truscott, Marleen Werkman, James E. Wright, Sam H. Farrell, Rajiv Sarkar, Kristjana Ásbjörnsdóttir and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:321

    Content type: Research

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  31. There is currently no vaccine available to protect humans against infection with the schistosome digenean parasites, although candidate formulations for Schistosoma mansoni are under trial in animal models, inclu...

    Authors: Andria Stylianou, Christoforos Hadjichrysanthou, James E. Truscott and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:294

    Content type: Research

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  32. Systematic non-compliance to chemotherapeutic treatment among a portion of the eligible population is thought to be a major obstacle to the elimination of helminth infections by mass drug administration (MDA)....

    Authors: Sam H. Farrell, James E. Truscott and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:291

    Content type: Research

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  33. Understanding and quantifying the sources and implications of error in the measurement of helminth egg intensity using Kato-Katz (KK) and the newly emerging “gold standard” quantitative polymerase chain reacti...

    Authors: Alice V. Easton, Rita G. Oliveira, Martin Walker, Elise M. O’Connell, Sammy M. Njenga, Charles S. Mwandawiro, Joanne P. Webster, Thomas B. Nutman and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:256

    Content type: Research

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  34. Current WHO guidelines for soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control focus on mass drug administration (MDA) targeting preschool-aged (pre-SAC) and school-aged children (SAC), with the goal of eliminating STH as...

    Authors: Marleen Werkman, James E. Truscott, Jaspreet Toor, James E. Wright and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:254

    Content type: Research

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  35. The majority of schistosomiasis control programmes focus on targeting school-aged children. Expanding the use of community-wide mass treatment to reach more adults is under consideration. However, it should be...

    Authors: Hugo C. Turner, James E. Truscott, Alison A. Bettis, Sam H. Farrell, Arminder K. Deol, Jane M. Whitton, Fiona M. Fleming and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:213

    Content type: Research

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  36. The filarial nematodes Wuchereria bancrofti (Cobbold, 1877), Brugia malayi (Brug, 1927) and B. timori Partono, Purnomo, Dennis, Atmosoedjono, Oemijati & Cross, 1977 cause lymphatic diseases in humans in the tropi...

    Authors: Shigehiko Uni, Ahmad Syihan Mat Udin, Takeshi Agatsuma, Weerachai Saijuntha, Kerstin Junker, Rosli Ramli, Hasmahzaiti Omar, Yvonne Ai-Lian Lim, Sinnadurai Sivanandam, Emilie Lefoulon, Coralie Martin, Daicus Martin Belabut, Saharul Kasim, Muhammad Rasul Abdullah Halim, Nur Afiqah Zainuri, Subha Bhassu…

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:194

    Content type: Research

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  38. Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) infection causes trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness. A Ct D/UW3 proteome microarray and sera from Gambian adults with trachomatous trichiasis (TT) or healthy mat...

    Authors: Harry Pickering, Sarah E. Burr, Tamsyn Derrick, Pateh Makalo, Hassan Joof, Richard D. Hayward and Martin J. Holland

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:143

    Content type: Research

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  39. A method is outlined for the use of an individual-based stochastic model of parasite transmission dynamics to assess different designs for a cluster randomized trial in which mass drug administration (MDA) is ...

    Authors: Roy Anderson, Sam Farrell, Hugo Turner, Judd Walson, Christl A. Donnelly and James Truscott

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:93

    Content type: Research

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  40. Globally, in 2010, approximately 1.5 billion people were infected with at least one species of soil-transmitted helminth (STH), Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, hookworm (Ancylostoma duodenale and Necat...

    Authors: William E. Oswald, Aisha E. P. Stewart, Michael R. Kramer, Tekola Endeshaw, Mulat Zerihun, Berhanu Melak, Eshetu Sata, Demelash Gessese, Tesfaye Teferi, Zerihun Tadesse, Birhan Guadie, Jonathan D. King, Paul M. Emerson, Elizabeth K. Callahan, Matthew C. Freeman, W. Dana Flanders…

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:91

    Content type: Research

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  41. The pork tapeworm, Taenia solium, and associated human infections, taeniasis, cysticercosis and neurocysticercosis, are serious public health problems, especially in developing countries. The World Health Organiz...

    Authors: Peter Winskill, Wendy E. Harrison, Michael D. French, Matthew A. Dixon, Bernadette Abela-Ridder and María-Gloria Basáñez

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2017 10:73

    Content type: Research

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  42. Elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis transmission is a priority for the Zanzibar Ministry of Health. Preventative chemotherapy together with additional control interventions have successfully alleviated m...

    Authors: Tom Pennance, Bobbie Person, Mtumweni Ali Muhsin, Alipo Naim Khamis, Juma Muhsin, Iddi Simba Khamis, Khalfan Abdallah Mohammed, Fatma Kabole, David Rollinson and Stefanie Knopp

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:646

    Content type: Research

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  43. Understanding whether schistosomiasis control programmes are on course to control morbidity and potentially switch towards elimination interventions would benefit from user-friendly quantitative tools that fac...

    Authors: Arminder Deol, Joanne P. Webster, Martin Walker, Maria-Gloria Basáñez, T. Déirdre Hollingsworth, Fiona M. Fleming, Antonio Montresor and Michael D. French

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:543

    Content type: Research

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  44. Vector-biting behaviour is important for vector-borne disease (VBD) epidemiology. The proportion of blood meals taken on humans (the human blood index, HBI), is a component of the biting rate per vector on hum...

    Authors: Poppy H. L. Lamberton, Robert A. Cheke, Martin Walker, Peter Winskill, J. Lee Crainey, Daniel A. Boakye, Mike Y. Osei-Atweneboana, Iñaki Tirados, Michael D. Wilson, Anthony Tetteh-Kumah, Sampson Otoo, Rory J. Post and María-Gloria Basañez

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:432

    Content type: Research

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  45. Trusted literate, or semi-literate, community drug distributors (CDDs) are the primary implementers in integrated preventive chemotherapy (IPC) programmes for Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) control. The CDDs...

    Authors: Fiona M. Fleming, Fred Matovu, Kristian S. Hansen and Joanne P. Webster

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:345

    Content type: Research

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  46. The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control has proposed provisional thresholds for the prevalence of microfilariae in humans and of L3 larvae in blackflies, below which mass drug administration (MDA) wit...

    Authors: Christian Bottomley, Valerie Isham, Sarai Vivas-Martínez, Annette C. Kuesel, Simon K. Attah, Nicholas O. Opoku, Sara Lustigman, Martin Walker and Maria-Gloria Basáñez

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:343

    Content type: Research

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  47. Brucella melitensis causes production losses in ruminants and febrile disease in humans in Africa, Central Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. Although traditionally understood to aff...

    Authors: Wendy Beauvais, Imadidden Musallam and Javier Guitian

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:55

    Content type: Research

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  48. Animal African trypanosomiasis (AAT) is one of the biggest constraints to livestock production and a threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to optimise the allocation of resources for AAT cont...

    Authors: H. R. Holt, R. Selby, C. Mumba, G. B. Napier and J. Guitian

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:53

    Content type: Research

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  49. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set goals for onchocerciasis elimination in Latin America by 2015. Most of the six previously endemic countries are attaining this goal by implementing twice a year (and...

    Authors: Carlos Botto, María-Gloria Basañez, Marisela Escalona, Néstor J. Villamizar, Oscar Noya-Alarcón, José Cortez, Sarai Vivas-Martínez, Pablo Coronel, Hortencia Frontado, Jorge Flores, Beatriz Graterol, Oneida Camacho, Yseliam Tovar, Daniel Borges, Alba Lucia Morales, Dalila Ríos…

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:40

    Content type: Research

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  50. Preventive chemotherapy (PCT) programmes are used to control five of the highest burden neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): soil-transmitted helminth infections (hookworm, ascariasis, and trichuriasis), lympha...

    Authors: Kathryn V. Shuford, Hugo C. Turner and Roy M. Anderson

    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2016 9:29

    Content type: Review

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