Epidemiology of Immune-Mediated Disease and Worms

Pathogen-Derived Immunomodulatory Molecules, edited by Padraic G. Fallon. 

In the nineteenth century, highly promoted but ineffectual patent medications promised eradication of these unwanted guests (Fig. 1). While these medications failed modern sewage treatment, cement sidewalks and regulated food industries in developed countries eliminated lifecycle pathways required to maintain helminth colonization. Even helminths with simple hand to mouth lifecycles such asEnterobius vermicularis (pinworm) have declined in the United States and Europe.  

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