SCHISTOSOMIASIS AND FILARIASIS

During 1990, investigators demonstrated immunologic cross-reactivity between an epitope of a human immunodeficiency virus-1 regulatory gene product and a schistosome surface antigen. Additional progress has been made in dissecting gene expression in the search for stage-specific sequences, the role of antibody in murine praziquantel chemotherapy, the complexity of different effector mechanisms of immunity in different animal models, the search for immune or immunopathology markers, and the prediction of success of chemotherapy by measuring antigenemia. During the past year, interesting studies have been reported on molecular genetics, the control of vectors as a consequence of human chemotherapy, parasite survival mechanisms, the development of a murine model for human tropical pulmonary eosinophilia, and the development of DNA probes for diagnosis.