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Frequently Asked Questions |
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Who can order schistosome life cycle stages? Any academic, government, or commercial laboratory that is involved in schistosomiasis research or teaching. Investigators are not required to have an ongoing NIH-funded research program to obtain these materials. Investigators new to the field are especially encouraged to make use of this resource. The suggested annual limits of the species available are listed on the Requisition Form.Is there a charge to obtain these materials? Authorized investigators are responsible only for shipping charges of the snails or mammals from BRI to their respective laboratories. How quickly can I obtain snails or mammals once I have receipt authorization from NIH? Depending on the species and stage requested, your request can usually be filled between 1-3 weeks. Contact either Dr. Lewis or Dr. Liang for an estimate of the time frame for the particular species requested. Are non-living schistosome stages, or extracts, available through this contract? Due to the wide variety of schistosome antigenic extracts used for experimental purposes, there are no provisions on this contract to produce these for other investigators. Are there health restrictions, or permits required, for obtaining these stages? Nearly all of the infected snails sent to your laboratory will have been exposed to miracidia only a few days before shipment. Upon arrival in your laboratory therefore there is no threat to accidental cercarial exposure, since the prepatent period is usually around 4 weeks or more after exposure to miracidia (depending on the temperature and species). For obtaining snails with these prepatent schistosome infections however we usually recommend consulting personnel in your institution’s Occupational Safety and Health office for clearance to receive and maintain them. Standard Operating Procedures for maintaining the snails may be required by the Safety Officer of your institution. We can assist you in drawing up these procedures to meet your particular situation. If you request infected Oncomelania sp. snails (with S. japonicum infections), it is usually best to obtain these with patent infections, unless your laboratory is equipped to maintain this very fastidious snail genus. To meet shipping requirements for infectious materials, special shipping cartons are used and, as a consequence, shipping charges are considerably more expensive. In the USA there are no government-mandated importation requirements or special restrictions for obtaining prepatent or patent snails from another USA laboratory. This is usually a local institutional issue. How are infected snails and/or mammals shipped? Snails are typically packed in moist paper towels, placed in plastic Petri dishes, and wrapped in bubble wrap. These are then placed in cardboard shipping cartons and sent overnight (usually FedEx or UPS) for next day delivery. Mice or hamsters are shipped in cardboard animal shipping cartons with sufficient food and, as water source, potatoes that have been soaked in water. (see Ordering Mammals for instructions and probable institutional requirements).
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