How Helminths Alter Immunity to Infection [Paperback]

Helminth infections are common, cause considerable pathology, and alter a hosts immune profile. This can have important consequences not only on the hosts ability to control a helminth infection, but also on their ability to control unrelated infections. In endemic areas, understanding how helminth infection influences the outcome of common infectious diseases and changes the efficacy of childhood vaccination programs is an important public health question.

This book reviews how host immunity to helminths alters our ability to respond to the major pathogens that exist in helminth endemic regions. Current understanding of how helminths alter important but relatively neglected contributors to the hosts anti-helminth immune responses are addressed, namely host antibody responses and how maternal infection may alter a childs immune development. These are discussed in relation to the control of helminth infection and unrelated infections. Also covered are how helminth infections alter the hosts ability to control TB, HIV and malarial infections along with neglected bacterial infections, such as cholera, and how endemic helminth infections are likely to alter our ability to respond to life-saving vaccination strategies.

The Role of Antibody in Parasitic Helminth Infections.- Maternal Helminth Infections.- Helminth-M. TB Co-Infection.- Bacterial Infections and Vaccines.- Helpful or a?Hindrance: Co-Infections of Helminth During Malaria.- Helminth Infections and HIV: Theories and Facts Regarding HIV and Helminth Interaction.

William Horsnell is an immunologist at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research interests center on how parasitic helminth infections alter host immunity and the ability to control both the helminth and unrelated diseases.

Reviews the current understanding of how helminth infections impact the ability to control unrelated infections