Effect of anthelmintic treatment on the allergic reactivity of children in a tropical slum

Asthma and atopy – the price of affluence?

“…Parasitic infections appeared to be the major factor explaining this difference. A protective role by intestinal parasitic (helminth) infection against the development of allergic diseases has been reported by several studies (132)(133)(134)(135)(136), although some authors have reported an opposite result (137,138). The evidence of an inverse relationship between helminths and atopic disease applies mostly to asthma, whereas for e.g.…”

Schistosoma mansoni infection modulates the immune response against allergic and auto-immune diseases

“…Although there is a consensus that helminthic infections decrease skin reactivity to aeroallergens, there was no well-controlled study showing that helminthic infections interfere with the frequency or severity of asthma (Araujo et al 2000, Lynch et al 1993. In the epidemiological studies above, the prevalence of asthma has only been evaluated through a questionnaire with no clinical examination or pulmonary function tests that could support the data.…”

“…Studies performed by Lynch and collaborators have both demonstrated that people living in an endemic area for Ascaris lumbricoides have a decreased reactivity to the immediate hypersensitivity skin prick tests, and that treatment with anti-helminthic drugs resulted in increased frequency of positive skin prick tests and aeroallergen-specific IgE production (Lynch et al 1993(Lynch et al , 1998. Supporting this idea, we evaluated whether immediate hypersensitivity reaction and aeroallergen specific IgE levels are influenced by the presence of S. mansoni, taking into account the potential influences of age and gender on this association.…”

“…Among the environmental factors, low socio-economic status (Patterson et al 1996, von Mutius et al 1994, Staines et al 1997a, Blanchard et al 2001, and the presence of infections have been implicated in protecting people against allergic (Lynch et al 1993, Araujo et al 2000, Cooper et al 2003, Medeiros et al 2003 and autoimmune diseases (Cooke et al 1999, Kurtzke 2000, La Flamme et al 2003. Recently, there has been growing interest in the hypothesis that infections might play a role in preventing or suppressing auto-immune and allergic disorders as studies have revealed that the prevalence of allergies and auto-immune diseases are increasing in developed countries, in conjunction with improved hygienic conditions.…”

Schistosoma mansoni antigen-driven interleukin-10 production in infected asthmatic individuals

“…For instance Lynch et al (1993) demonstrated an inhibition of the skin prick test response to aeroallergens in individuals infected with Ascaris lumbricoides, and that the anti-helminthic treatment resulted in an increase in the prevalence of positive skin tests. These findings were supported by others authors (van den Biggelaar et al 2000) and in the last few years some studies have demonstrated that Schistosoma mansoni infection not only suppresses the skin prick test response, but modulates asthma severity (Araujo et al 2000, van den Biggelaar et al 2000, Medeiros et al 2003.…”