Abstract
African trypanosomiasis
Highlights
The combination of human and livestock disease makes these parasites a serious impediment to agricultural and economic advancement in the affected areas, an impact that combines with the obvious health concerns to create a problem that seriously impinges at several levels upon human wellbeing
Not the ‘natural host’ of trypanosome infections, Stefan Magez and Guy Caljon (1) review key insights that the rodent model has enabled, and which would have been extremely difficult if not impossible without this tractable system. These include how the trypanosome interacts and is affected by both the humoral and innate immune responses, how human-infective trypanosomes are able to avoid lysis by human serum, and the influence of tsetse saliva on the immune response at the bite site
While the rodent model has undoubtedly hugely enriched our knowledge of immunopathogenesis in trypanosomiasis, complementary studies in natural hosts are a key component in confirming translation of any findings
Summary
As well as causing sleeping sickness in humans, trypanosomes are responsible for significant disease in livestock. Despite this seemingly pessimistic summary, significant strides have been made in our understanding of the interactions between the host and the parasite that drive disease and shape the course of infections.
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