Akbar A. Ganatra

Abstract Agricultural intensification in Zambia has led to widespread reliance on pesticides to safeguard crop yields, yet concerns about their ecological consequences remain insufficiently addressed. This study helps to fill this gap by evaluating the extent and ecological risks associated with pesticide contamination in soils from Chibombo and Mkushi Districts in Central Zambia. We used a two-stage nested research design.

New Results doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.02.13.528426 Abstract Background Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease caused by trematodes of the genus Schistosoma. The pathogen is transmitted via freshwater snails. These snails indirectly benefit from agricultural pesticides which affect their enemy species. Pesticide exposure of surface waters may thus increase the risk of schistosomiasis transmission unless it also affects the pathogen.

Correction to: Scientific Reports https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-60654-7, published online 27 February 2020 The original version of this Article contained an error in Figure 1 where the two maps were overlapping. This has now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the paper. Author information Author notes These authors contributed equally: Jeremias M. Becker and Akbar A. Ganatra.