Interactions Between Bacteria and Parasites

A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has completed the first study of the effects of a simultaneous infection with blood flukes (schistosomes) and the bacterium Helicobacter pylori – a fairly common occurrence in some parts of the world. They identified a complex interaction which resulted – among other effects – in a weakening of the adverse impact of the pathogens acting individually.

Around 240 million people worldwide are afflicted with schistosomiasis, an illness caused by flatworms of the genus schistosoma, commonly known as blood flukes. These parasites generally enter the human body with water from lakes, ponds or rivers. Worms, larvae and eggs are transported to various organs in the body through the bloodstream. The species Schistosoma mansoni is especially damaging to the liver, where it causes cirrhosis.

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that colonizes the human stomach. One in three people in Germany carry it and the worldwide rate is actually around 50%. Infections are associated with stomach ulcers and cancer. In places where schistosomes are widespread, as in some African countries south of the Sahara, co-infections with Helicobacter pylori are frequent. A team headed by Prof. Clarissa Prazeres da Costa and Prof. Markus Gerhard of the Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at TUM used mice to study what happens in a co-infection with Helicobacter pylori and Schistosoma mansoni.

Read more at Technical University of Munich

Image: Prof. Markus Gerhard (left), is an expert on the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, Prof. Clarissa Prazeres da Costa (right) studies parasites like blood flukes. Together, they looked into co-infections – a fairly common occurance in humans – and their considerable yet little-studied consequences.

CREDIT: Juli Eberle (l.) Stephan Rumpf (r.) / TUM