Objective
Malaria and helminth infections often coincide geographically in tropical regions. The implications of concomitant malaria and helminth infections have been mainly explored in animal models indicating that their interaction can alter the course of malaria infection and disease. In recent years it has become clear that chronic helminth infections alter the immune system both at the innate and the adaptive level affecting responses to third party antigens.
Few studies in human populations have so far shown contradictory results; helminth co-infections seem to either exacerbate or curtail severity of malarial disease. It is important to gain in-depth knowledge of the interaction between these parasites in humans in the context of controlling malarial parasites and clinical disease. Much effort is going into developing vaccines; these have to be delivered to populations living in areas endemic for helminths. If there are strong interactions, then vaccine efficacy will be affected.
It is important to plan ahead and aim to build up strong teams in endemic regions that are able to do research in the area of co-infection both diagnostically and immunologically. Although there are experts in endemic areas, they are often segregated into "malaria team" or "helminth team" with often little interaction. The present proposal aims to bring together a group of Dutch, German, Indonesian and Malaysian experts in the area of malaria and helminth parasitology/diagnosis, epidemiology and immunology, to train a number of medical doctors, nurses and scientists by organising workshops and laboratory based courses.
With the view to the future this will stimulate Regional as well as International Cooperation, will disseminate knowledge and will allow new grant applications to be prepared that will answer the question of whether and how helminths affect the course of malaria infection and disease with important implications for future malaria control programs.
Fields of science
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesinfectious diseasesmalaria
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic healthepidemiology
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesparasitology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP6-2002-INCO-DEV/SSA-1
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Funding Scheme
SSA - Specific Support ActionCoordinator
Leiden
Netherlands
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Participants (3)
Tuebingen
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Pulau Pinang
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Jakarta
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