Credit: Wikimedia Commons/David Williams
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown how a parasitic worm infection common in the developing world increases susceptibility to tuberculosis. The study raises the possibility of using inexpensive and widely available anti-parasitic drugs as a preventive measure in places where the parasite and TB are common — stopping infection with the parasite and reducing susceptibility to TB and the risk of a latent TB infection progressing to disease. Pictured is an electron micrograph of a Schistosoma parasite worm.