Document is current

Article History

Received: 8 January 2026

Revised: 6 March 2026

Accepted: 16 March 2026

First Online: 7 April 2026

Declarations

:

: All experimental procedures were formally reviewed and approved by the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) of the Philippines under Republic Act No. 8485 (Animal Welfare Act) on January 26, 2024. Although no Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is available at the animal facility of the Department of Health Schistosomiasis Research and Training Center, the approval granted by the BAI authorizes the conduct of experiments at this facility under the guidance and close supervision of veterinarians from BAI Region VIII. Both the Department of Health Schistosomiasis Research and Training Center and the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Philippines are government institutions that work collaboratively to ensure that all experimental procedures are conducted ethically and in full compliance with national regulations. Furthermore, all experiments were carried out in strict accordance with the ARRIVE Guidelines, NIH regulations, and the principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement (3Rs), with every effort made to maintain the highest standards of animal welfare and to minimize suffering throughout the study. The official approval letter is provided as a supplementary file.

: The authors declare no competing interests.