An explicit immunogenetic model of gastrointestinal nematode infection in sheep.

ABSTRACT: Gastrointestinal nematodes are a global cause of disease and death in humans, wildlife and livestock. Livestock infection has historically been controlled with anthelmintic drugs, but the development of resistance means that alternative controls are needed. The most promising alternatives are vaccination, nutritional supplementation and selective breeding, all of which act by enhancing the immune response. Currently, control planning is hampered by reliance on the faecal egg count (FEC), which suffers from low accuracy and a nonlinear and indirect relationship with infection intensity and host immune responses. We address this gap by using extensive parasitological, immunological and genetic data on the sheep-Teladorsagia circumcincta interaction to create an immunologically explicit model

SUBMITTER: Prada Jimenez de Cisneros J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4233724 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature