Little work has been conducted on the helminth parasites of artiodactylids in the northern and western parts of the Limpopo province, which is considerably drier than the rest of the province. The aim of this study was to determine the kinds and numbers of helminth that occur in different wildlife hosts in the area as well as whether any zoonotic helminths were present. Ten impalas (Aepyceros m...

Autophagy is an important mechanism used by macrophages to kill intracellular pathogens. The results reported in this study demonstrate that autophagy is also involved in the macrophage killing of the extracellular enteropathogen Citrobacter rodentium after phagocytosis. The process was significantly impaired in macrophages isolated from mice chronically infected with the helminth parasite Heli...

The goals of this study were: (I) to report the helminth population in cattle, sheep and goats; (II) to determine the concentration and diversity of the population; and (III) to study the role of host age, host sex, diet and season in structuring the population. A total of 485 cattle, 1144 sheep and 989 goats were examined for helminth population for four seasons. The helminth population consis...

Basophils are powerful mediators of Th2 immunity and are present in increased numbers during allergic inflammation and helminth infection. Despite their ability to potentiate Th2 immunity the mechanisms regulating basophil development remain largely unknown. We have found a unique role for isotype-switched antibodies in promoting helminth-induced basophil production following infection of mice ...

Soil-transmitted helminths (STHs) pose a significant public health problem, infecting approximately 2 billion people globally. Despite relatively low prevalence in developed countries, the removal of STHs from wastewater remains crucial to allow the safe use of biosolids or recycled water for agriculture. Wastewater helminth egg count data can contribute to an assessment of the need for, or suc...

One of the many aspects of the relationships between parasite infections and allergic diseases is the possibility that allergens from parasites enhance the TH2 responses, especially IgE production, in allergic diseases such as asthma. In this review we discuss about the allergenic composition of the nematode Ascaris lumbricoides and their potential impact on allergy sensitization and asthma pat...

CANARJS, A.G. & KINSELLA, J.M., 1998 (31:xii): Helminth parasite communities in four species of shorebirds (Charadriidae) on King Island, Tasmania. Pap. Proc. R. Soc. Tasm., 132: 49-57. ISSN 0080-4703. PO Box 717, Hamilton, Montana, USA 59840 (formerly Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso) (AGe); and Department ofInfectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine, ...

Parasite genes often use codons which are rarely used in the highly expressed genes of Escherichia coli, possibly resulting in translational stalling and lower yields of recombinant protein. We have constructed the ``RIG'' plasmid to overcome the potential codon-bias problem seen in Plasmodium genes. RIG contains the genes that encode three tRNAs (Arg, Ile, Gly), which recognise rare codons fou...

Background Sublethal parasite infections may cause mortality indirectly by exposing the host to predation. The best known example of this among birds is red grouse in which caecal nematode infection causes increased risk of predation and can even affect population dynamics [1]. Intestinal helminth parasites are common in forest grouse, capercaillie Tetrao urogallus, black grouse Tetrao tetrix a...

Cane toads (Bufo marinus) were introduced to Australia in 1935 and have since spread widely over the continent, generating concern regarding ecological impacts on native predators. Most Australian cane toad populations are infected with lung nematodes Rhabdias pseudosphaerocephala, a parasite endemic to New World (native-range) cane toad populations; presumably introduced to Australia with its ...