Intertidal snail-trematode communities in southern Thailand were examined before and after the South Asia tsunami. Infection rates and species diversity of cercaria in the host snail Cerithidea in tidal zones did not change significantly from one year before to one month after the tsunami. However, the host snails C. quadrata, C. alata and C. obtusa disappeared from greatly damaged sites. It is...

Glycans present on glycoproteins and glycolipids of the major human parasite Schistosoma mansoni induce innate as well as adaptive immune responses in the host. To be able to study the molecular characteristics of schistosome infections it is therefore required to determine the expression profiles of glycans and antigenic glycan-motifs during a range of critical stages of the complex schistosom...

Human coinfection with the helminth parasite Schistosoma mansoni and hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses is associated with increased hepatic viral burdens and severe liver pathology. In this study we developed a murine S. mansoni/lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) coinfection model that reproduces the enhanced viral replication and liver pathology observed in human coinfections, and use...

Coevolution between host and parasite is, in principle, a powerful determinant of the biology and genetics of infection and disease. However, coevolution is difficult to demonstrate rigorously in practice and therefore has rarely been observed empirically, particularly in animal-parasite systems. Research on host-schistosome interactions has the potential for making an important contribution to...

BACKGROUND Protective acquired immunity against helminths and allergic sensitisation are both characterised by high IgE antibody levels. Levels of IgE antibodies are naturally tightly regulated by several mechanisms including binding of the CD23 receptor. Following observations that helminth infections and allergic sensitisation may co-present, the current study aims to investigate the relation...

Descriptions of the miracidium, mother redia, daughter redia, grandaughter redia, cercaria, metacercaria and adult stages of Philophthalmus gralli Mathis and Leger, 1910 recovered from experimental infections are presented. The intermediate host, Melanoides tuberculata, was collected from freshwater rivulets in Aguasanta and Yaguracual, Sucre State, Venezuela. Chicken were orally infected with ...

D icrocoelium dendriticum is the most widespread liver fluke in cattle and sheep in Italy [1]. Adult forms live in the gall bladder and bile ducts of their final hosts (ruminants). Eggs are passed in faeces and ingested by land snails which excrete cercaria in mucous balls, which are eaten by ants. Infestation usually occurs by ingestion of ants that carry metacercariae by animals and occasiona...