TUESDAY, Aug. 8 (HealthDay News) -- The population density of the hookworm in patients is controlled by an allergic response in the small intestine, which may be a novel biological dynamic, according to a study published in the August issue of Gastroenterology. Hookworm affects nearly 700 million people worldwide.
John Croese, M.D., of the Townsville Hospital in Townsville, Australia, and colleagues inoculated five people, including three healthy researchers and two long-standing, immune-suppressed Crohn's disease patients with the larvae of the Necator americanus hookworm. They also used 50 larvae to inoculate two of the healthy volunteers who already had established and stable hookworm infection and then performed a series of capsule endoscopies.
After inoculation, all subjects developed eosinophilic enteritis. Within four weeks, newly inoculated larvae had reached the two subjects' intestines, after which time the colony diminished to the subject's status quo level due to the failure of immature worms to attach. "The intensity of the eosinophilic response correlated negatively with the time available for hookworms to feed and positively with hookworm attrition," the authors write.
"We propose that allergic inflammation purposefully degrades the hookworm's bite, causing premature detachment, restricted feeding and expulsion. This novel biological dynamic suggests a new paradigm of hookworm resistance," they conclude.
Abstract
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