Rj. Quinnell et al., IMMUNOEPIDEMIOLOGY OF HUMAN NECATORIASIS - CORRELATIONS BETWEEN ANTIBODY-RESPONSES AND PARASITE BURDENS, Parasite immunology, 17(6), 1995, pp. 313-318
In this paper,ye describe the relationship between antibodies to Necat
or americanus stage-specific antigens and parasite burden in an endemi
cally-infected population in Papua New Guinea. Using an age-structured
analysis, rye show that the correlation coefficient between levels of
IgG against adult worm excetory-secretory (ES) antigen and parasite b
urden declined significantly with host age from positive in younger ho
sts to significantly negative in older hosts. A trend towards similar.
patterns was present for anti-larval IgG both pretreatment and after
reinfection, and for anti-ES IgM and anti-ES IgE pretreatment, These p
atterns are consistent,vith a role for these isotypes in a protective
immune response, although parasite-induced immunosuppression may provi
de an alternate explanation. This is another demonstration of possibly
protective responses to N, americanus infection.