MEASUREMENT OF HOOKWORM INFECTION INTENSITY AND CIRCULATING LEVELS OFIGE AND AUTOANTIBODIES TO IGE IN ATOPICS AND NONATOPICS LIVING IN A PARASITIZED COMMUNITY IN PAPUA-NEW-GUINEA

We have compared hookworm infection intensity, as determined by fecal egg count, and circulating levels of IgE and autoantibodies to IgE in atopic and nonatopic parasitized (predominantly hookworm-infected) pat ients from Kebasob village on Karkar Island, Papua New Guinea. Our stu dy has clearly established that parasitized atopic individuals have si gnificantly higher levels of IgE and autoanti-IgE than their nonatopic counterparts, and that atopy does not appear to influence accumulated levels of hookworm infection. These data, therefore, do not support a n earlier report that suggested that the atopic state may confer incre ased resistance to hookworm infestation in a parasitized community in Papua New Guinea.