Parasitic infections adopt a rather low profile in the highly urbanized setting in Singapore. Very few food-borne parasitic infections are encountered. Apart from a few reports of infections with Clonorchis/Opisthorchis, Taenia spp. and hydatid disease, there are no other citations of such helminthic infections. Seroprevalence surveys have shown the presence of toxoplasmosis in local meat anima...

Background: Asthma is less common in countries outside the organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD). One suggested mechanism for this disparity is the early life exposure to helminthic infection in non-OECD countries due to predominant Th1 immune response, which down-regulates Th2 responses required for exacerbation of asthma. This report is the first in the literature to de...

Eosinophils, cells that are associated with asthma (1, 2), helminthic infections (3), and other clinical disorders, are thought to reside in the peripheral blood for <12 h and in connective tissues for several days (4). The in vitro survival of human peripheral blood eosinophils is limited to <2 d. Because the eosinophilia that normally accompanies helminthic infections is suppressed in athymic...

Introduction: The intestinal nematodes infestation in tropical and sub-tropical countries is mostly attributed to roundworms, hookworms and whipworms. India is one of the largest contributors to the global burden of soil-transmitted helminthes (STH) with a national population prevalence estimated to be 21% by Global Atlas of Helminth Infections (GAHI), as per data prior to 2007. Objective: We a...

Once animals have experienced a helminthic infection, they often show stronger protective immunity against subsequent infections. Although helminthic infections are well known to elicit Th2-type immune responses, it remains ill-defined where and how acquired protection is executed. Here we show that skin-invading larvae of the intestinal helminth Nippostrongylus brasiliensis are surrounded by s...

BACKGROUND Intestinal parasitic infections are significant cause of morbidity and mortality in endemic countries. In Ethiopia, helminthiasis was the third leading cause of outpatient visits. Despite the health extension program was launched to address this problem, there is limited information on the burden of intestinal parasites after implementation of the program in our setting. Therefore, t...

BACKGROUND Ascariasis and HIV/AIDS are often co-endemic under conditions of poverty in South Africa; and discordant immune responses to the respective infections could theoretically be affecting the epidemic of HIV/AIDS in various ways. It is well-known that sensitisation to helminthic antigens can aggravate or ameliorate several non-helminthic diseases and impair immunisation against cholera, ...

The incidence of protozoal and helminthic infestations of the central nervous system (CNS) is less than 1%, but these infestations tend to follow a fatal course. They are more common among children, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals. CNS infections due to Entamoeba histolytica have been known for a long time. In recent years, especially in developing countries, there has been an inc...

Prevalence of intestinal parasites was investigated in rural primary school children in Famaillá city, Tucumán province, Argentina. Stool specimens from 149 school children were collected. The prevalence rate of intestinal parasite infections was 86.6%. No significant differences were observed in the distribution by age or by sex. Blastocystis hominis was the most commonly found protozoan paras...