Abstract

Helminths are parasitic worms. They are the most common infectious agents of humans in developing countries and produce a global burden of disease that exceeds better-known conditions, including malaria and tuberculosis. As we discuss here, new insights into fundamental helminth biology are accumulating through newly completed genome projects and the nascent application of transgenesis and RNA interference technologies. At the same time, our understanding of the dynamics of the transmission of helminths and the mechanisms of the Th2-type immune responses that are induced by infection with these parasitic worms has increased markedly. Ultimately, these advances in molecular and medical helminth biology should one day translate into a new and robust pipeline of drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines for targeting parasitic worms that infect humans.

Keywords

HelminthsBiologyTropical diseaseHelminth infectionsMalariaNeglected tropical diseasesImmunologyDiseaseMedicine

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Dengue and Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever

Duane J. Gubler

SUMMARY Dengue fever, a very old disease, has reemerged in the past 20 years with an expanded geographic distribution of both the viruses and the mosquito vectors, increased epi...

1998 Clinical Microbiology Reviews 4279 citations

Publication Info

Year
2008
Type
review
Volume
118
Issue
4
Pages
1311-1321
Citations
1540
Access
Closed

External Links

View on DOI.org

Social Impact

Altmetric
PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

1540
OpenAlex

Cite This

Peter J. Hotez, Paul J. Brindley, Jeffrey M. Bethony et al. (2008). Helminth infections: the great neglected tropical diseases. Journal of Clinical Investigation , 118 (4) , 1311-1321. https://doi.org/10.1172/jci34261

Identifiers

DOI
10.1172/jci34261