ABSTRACT
Although major strides have been made in controlling certain helminth parasitic infections, either through transmission control schemes or new chemotherapeutic agents, some of these diseases continue to cause considerable morbidity and mortality throughout the developing world. Indeed, filariasis and schistosomiasis have each been estimated to affect over 100 million people worldwide. The reason for the high prevalence and continued transmission of these infections is in part due to the inability to find methods for inducing protective immunity to parasites. As the impact of parasitic infections is significant in terms of both their effects on individual health and the socioeconomic status of communities at large, methods for combatting them have focused increasingly on finding means to induce protective immune responses. As a consequence, great emphasis has been placed on investigating the unique relationship that exists between the parasite and the hose immune system.
