• Question: what cure can help save children from catching infections from parasites? I know that everyone has parasites living inside them and anyone can catch a infection but have you found a cure for this?

    Asked by ILuvScience to Mark, Franco, Claire on 14 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Franco Falcone

      Franco Falcone answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Hi ILuvScience
      some parasitic infections are harmless such as pinworms, some are self-curing. Some may even protect against allergy and other diseases, so it may not be wise to completely eliminate all parasites (even if it was possible). In a way, we have co-evolved with our parasites and our immune system is used to them, so in their absence, it over-shoots and causes disease.
      Indeed probably most of us have parasites in them or at least on them; one example is Demodex folliculorum, which is a microscopic mite living in hair follicles in your face. It does no harm but also gives you no benefits, so it’s seen as a commensal rather than parasite

    • Photo: Mark Booth

      Mark Booth answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Hi
      There are several drugs available for different parasite species but nothing prevents infection – there is no vaccine for any parasite of humans although there are trials of vaccines against malaria underway. The way to avoid parasites is to know how they are transmitted and take steps to make sure you don’t come into contact.

    • Photo: Claire Bourke

      Claire Bourke answered on 16 Jun 2016:

      Hi iluvscience, I agree with Mark and Franco – there are plenty of treatments, but also lots of infections which will go away without treatment.

      One of the things that I have looked into with my research is the effect on the immune system of large scale treatment programs for parasitic worms; that is when a whole community of people who are at risk of infection are all given a medicine to clear infection and then the number of infections is tracked afterwards to see if treatment reduces how many people get re-infected. The good thing about mass treatment programs is that if fewer people have worms then fewer worm eggs are produced and released into the environment, which means that there are fewer infective larvae (baby worms) to infect new people – so it kind of breaks the cycle of infection and reduces the risk of catching new infections for the whole community, including children. I am interested in whether this process also boosts protection against infection by the immune system.

      This approach isn’t a cure, since people can still get infected even if they have been treated before, but is a way to reduce infections.

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