Applying evolutionary genetics to schistosome epidemiology.

Multi-parasite host susceptibility and multi-host parasite infectivity: a new approach of the Biomphalaria glabrata/Schistosoma mansoni compatibility polymorphism.

In this study, we analyze the degree of susceptibility/un-susceptibility of five strains of Biomphalaria glabrata from different geographical origins successively challenged with a panel of 4 Schistosoma mansoni strains. A total of 20 homopatric and heteropatric host-parasite combinations were tested with exposure doses of 1, 10, 20, 30 and 50 miracidia per individual host. By doing this, we ch...

Human Schistosome Infection and Allergic Sensitisation

Several field studies have reported an inverse relationship between the prevalence of helminth infections and that of allergic sensitisation/atopy. Recent studies show that immune responses induced by helminth parasites are, to an extent, comparable to allergic sensitisation. However, helminth products induce regulatory responses capable of inhibiting not only antiparasite immune responses, but...

Population genetics and population biology: what did they bring to the epidemiology of transmissible diseases? An e-debate.

The definition of the CDC for molecular epidemiology is: “the various techniques derived from immunology, biochemistry, and genetics for typing or subtyping pathogens”. This definition is technology-based and does not make any reference to evolutionary genetic concepts. Do you think that this approach is misleading for medical and epidemiological applications, or do you think that molecular epi...

Leptospirosis: time to move to molecular epidemiology: comments on "Reassessment of MLST schemes for Leptospira spp. typing worldwide" by Varni and colleagues.

Schistosome genetic diversity: the implications of population structure as detected with microsatellite markers.

Blood flukes in the genus Schistosoma are important human parasites in tropical regions. A substantial amount of genetic diversity has been described in populations of these parasites using molecular markers. We first consider the extent of genetic variation found in Schistosoma mansoni and some factors that may be contributing to this variation. Recently, though, attempts have been made to ana...