Parasite Immunology, 2001: 23: 517

Editorial

Parasite Immunology and the clinical immunologist

Parasites of man are at last beginning to receive some of the

attention that they deserve as major causes of mortality

among the population of the poorest countries of the world.

Whether the renewed interest of the wealthy countries in

parasitic infections results from compassion or from a

realization that poor countries are poor markets for their

exports can be debated but, whatever the cause, it is

happening. The tragedy of AIDS, which has highlighted the

desperate situation of many countries in sub-Saharan

Africa, has probably also played a role in this process.

Among the parasitic diseases, malaria is receiving the

most attention. Two years ago, the World Health Organiza-

tion launched a major new partnership, Roll Back Malaria,

which has set ambitious targets for improvements in

malaria control. Several established donors, such as the

National Institutes of Health, have increased their support

for malaria research and new donors, including the Gates

Foundation, have entered the field. Filariasis is targeted for

global elimination through a public±private partnership that

will use chemotherapy with ivermectin and albendazole to

control the infection. Even orphan parasitic infections, such

as African trypanosomiasis, are receiving a little more

attention than in the past.

Much of this renewed activity will be directed at the

development of new drugs and vaccines and their evalua-

tion in the field. However, it will also open up many new

opportunities for clinical immunologists interested in

parasitic infections. For several parasitic infections, sur-

veillance of the prevalence of infection before and after the

introduction of control measures can be performed most

economically using sero-diagnostic tests and more work is

needed in this area. The ways in which immunity and

chemotherapy can enhance each other's efficacy in

eliminating parasites has been shown in several infections,

including schistosomiasis, but has generally received little

attention from immunologists. Adverse effects of treatment

of parasitic infections frequently have an immunological

basis but little work has been carried out in this area.

Finally, immunologists have a critical role to play in

vaccine studies through an investigation of possible

immunological correlates of protection.

Parasite Immunology has always welcomed papers that

describe studies of the immune response of man to parasite

infections but, in recent years, the journal has been widely

perceived as one interested primarily in animal studies. As

more opportunities arise for the study of the immune

response to human parasite infections, the Editors of

Parasite Immunology hope that more high quality papers

describing immunological studies of parasitic infection in

man will reach their desks.

B.M.GREENWOOD

q 2001 Blackwell Science Ltd 517