Revisiting immunity vs. exposure in schistosomiasis: A mathematical modeling study of delayed concomitant immunity.

ABSTRACT: The relative contributions of exposure vs. acquired immunity to the epidemiology of human schistosomiasis has been long debated. While there is considerable evidence that humans acquire partial immunity to infection, age- and sex-related contact patterns with water bodies contaminated with infectious cercarial schistosome larvae also contribute to typical epidemiological profiles of infection. Here, we develop a novel schistosome transmission model that incorporates both partially protective "delayed concomitant" acquired immunity-stimulated by dying worms-and host age- and sex-dependent patterns of exposure. We use a contemporary Bayesian approach to fit the model to historical individual data on exposure to infectious cercaria, eggs per gram of feces, and immunoglobulin E antibodies spec

SUBMITTER: Milne GC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11521328 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature