Neglected Deceivers To most invaders of our bodies, the sight of white blood cells (WBC) – the soldiers of our immune system – is bad news. However, despite having no limbs, the parasitic worm that causes the tropical disease, schistosomiasis, welcomes them with open arms. This is because only by piggy-backing on the immune response can the worm’s eggs pass from the host’s blood into the gut. From there they can be excreted and go on to infect other victims. Scientists have discovered that to get close to immune system activity, eggs gather in regions containing tubular pathways along which WBCs travel. In fact, eight weeks after infection (right image), these vessels (shown in red) are actually larger and more numerous than in animals naïve to the disease. By tricking the host’s own body to lend a hand to the worm, schistosomiasis, which damages internal organs, has already infected over 200 million people worldwide. Written by Jan Piotrowski — Adrian Mountford University of York, UK Originally published under a Creative Commons Attribution license Published in PLOS Pathogens 8(12): e1003063
Pop-upView Separately

Neglected Deceivers

To most invaders of our bodies, the sight of white blood cells (WBC) – the soldiers of our immune system – is bad news. However, despite having no limbs, the parasitic worm that causes the tropical disease, schistosomiasis, welcomes them with open arms. This is because only by piggy-backing on the immune response can the worm’s eggs pass from the host’s blood into the gut. From there they can be excreted and go on to infect other victims. Scientists have discovered that to get close to immune system activity, eggs gather in regions containing tubular pathways along which WBCs travel. In fact, eight weeks after infection (right image), these vessels (shown in red) are actually larger and more numerous than in animals naïve to the disease. By tricking the host’s own body to lend a hand to the worm, schistosomiasis, which damages internal organs, has already infected over 200 million people worldwide.

Written by Jan Piotrowski

—

Source: bpod.mrc.ac.uk

44 Notes/ Hide

  1. ivehadtoomuchtothink reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  2. reneeshelmadine596 reblogged this from bpod-mrc and added:
    landscape
  3. greenpanic6 reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  4. frau-maus reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  5. kaleidoscopechild reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  6. darkpixie10 reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  7. sadisticfanboy reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  8. hlk3 reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  9. pretentioustitle reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  10. naikku reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  11. heinerbell reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  12. godgiveswood reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  13. adventuresofdl reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  14. boneforest reblogged this from molecularlifesciences
  15. biasaa reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  16. sagrasa reblogged this from molecularlifesciences and added:
    This immune exploitation always drove my wild in parastiology class. Happy to see it on my dash.
  17. sunshine11xx reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  18. This was featured in #Science
  19. molecularlifesciences reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  20. onesunnynight reblogged this from bpod-mrc
  21. bpod-mrc posted this