No, it’s not a sandworm from Dune… (though the resemblance is uncanny):

It’s actually a Hookworm, a multicellular parasite that infects the intestine of humans and other mammals.

A study reported on in Microbiology Bytes explains a finding in which polyparasitic infections are implicated in the worsening of conditions of anemia in children.  When hookworm and either Schistosoma japonicum or Trichuris co-infect a host higher levels of anemia are detected.  This is despite the fact that these two parasites do not infect the same part of the host.

Interestingly, there is some synergistic affect that is occurring indirectly in the host.  This provides some compelling evidence to conduct further epidemiological studies,to help control anemia by its corresponding parasitic pathogens.  Further physiological studies are also needed, it appears to determine the synergistic role that these parasites play.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 12:15 pm and is filed under link out, medicine, microbiology, news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.