Parasitic worms may boost African HIV rates.

sea-maid submitted, created time 4 months 4 days (www.newscientist.com)

ONE of the biggest mysteries of HIV is why the virus spreads so readily via heterosexual sex in Africa but not elsewhere. A study in monkeys suggests parasitic worms may be to blame.

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Parasitic worms may help fuel AIDS epidemic: study

kavin submitted, created time 4 months 5 days (www.reuters.com)

People infected with parasitic worms may be much more susceptible to the AIDS virus, according to a study published on Tuesday that may help explain why HIV has hit sub-Saharan Africa particularly hard.

The study involving monkeys demonstrated how a type of parasitic worm that causes schistosomiasis, which affects 200 million people globally, may make HIV infection more likely.

Much lower amounts of the AIDS virus--seventeen times lower--were needed to cause infection in monkeys who had the parasitic worms than in the parasite-free monkeys, the researchers said

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Genetic haplotypes of Th-2 immune signalling link allergy to enhanced protection to parasitic worms

sciencebaby submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (hmg.oxfordjournals.org)

"We investigated how genetic variation in the Th-2 signalling transduction molecule STAT-6 relates to these clinical disorders, using immune phenotyping by serum IgE levels, and haplotyping 9 STAT-6 genetic variants in a rural Chinese population, where Ascaris infection is prevalent, and an urban UK population where Ascaris is largely unknown but asthma and allergy are prevalent. "

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