IMMUNOEPIDEMIOLOGY OF HUMAN SCHISTOSOMES - TAKING THE THEORY INTO THEFIELD

Much is known about human immune responses to schistosome infection, b ut it has proved difficult to determine the impact of these responses on schistosome epidemiology in the field(1). In this paper, Mark Woolh ouse compares epidemiological patterns from field data with the predic tions of simple mathematical models of different immunological process es. The comparison gives some indications as to which types of immune response may be important and of their strength and duration. The resu lts are consistent with a significant impact of a process similar to ' concomitant' immunity, with a possible role for anti-fecundity effects .