Studies of the initiation and maintenance of asthma and allergic inflammation implicate dysregulated interactions between mucosal epithelia and innate immune cells as the underlying cause of these disorders. The similarities of these responses with mucosal responses to parasitic intestinal worms may reveal pathways relevant to the perplexing rise of these chronic inflammatory disorders.

Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris suum are widespread parasitic nematodes of humans and pigs respectively. Recent prevalence data suggests that approximately 1.2 billion people are infected. Adult worms exhibit an overdispersed frequency distribution in their hosts and individuals harbouring heavy burdens display associated morbidity. In this review, we describe the parasite, its distribution an...

Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris suum are widespread parasitic nematodes of humans and pigs respectively. Recent prevalence data suggests that approximately 1.2 billion people are infected. Adult worms exhibit an overdispersed frequency distribution in their hosts and individuals harbouring heavy burdens display associated morbidity. In this review, we describe the parasite, its distribution an...

microRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that are important regulators of gene expression in a range of animals, including nematodes. We have analysed a cluster of four miRNAs from the pathogenic nematode species Haemonchus contortus that are closely linked in the genome. We find that the cluster is conserved only in clade V parasitic nematodes and in some ascarids, but not in other clade III specie...

Purpose To characterize a new species of parasitic nematode that triggers uveitis. Observations Three previously healthy, relatively young people each contracted a corneal stromal nematode that, upon surgical removal and examination, did not match any known nematodes. Clinical ocular findings included corneal opacification, visible corneal worms, conjunctival injection, and uveitis. Conclus...

A 56-year-old Japanese woman underwent partial hepatectomy for intrahepatic cystic masses. Before operation, the patient had been diagnosed as liver abscess due to Ascaris infection serologically. The excised hepatic lesions consisted of encapsulated old abscesses, with a few calcified parasitic ova and numerous Charcot-Leiden's crystals microscopically seen in necrotic exudate. However, no par...

Of all the microbial infections relevant to mammals the relationship between parasitic worms and what constitutes and regulates a host protective immune response is perhaps the most complex and evolved. Nippostrongylus brasiliensis is a tissue migrating parasitic roundworm of rodents that exemplifies many of the salient features of parasitic worm infection, including parasite development throug...

Parasitic worms (helminths) within the Phyla Nematoda and Platyhelminthes are responsible for some of the most debilitating and chronic infectious diseases of human and animal populations across the globe. As no subunit vaccine for any parasitic helminth is close to being developed, the frontline strategy for intervention is administration of therapeutic, anthelmintic drugs. Worryingly, and uns...