Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (INRAE), Université de Tours, ISP, Nouzilly, France.
Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States.
Adv Parasitol. 2024;123:51-123. doi: 10.1016/bs.apar.2023.12.002. Epub 2024 Feb 20.
The ascarids are a large group of parasitic nematodes that infect a wide range of animal species. In humans, they cause neglected diseases of poverty; many animal parasites also cause zoonotic infections in people. Control measures include hygiene and anthelmintic treatments, but they are not always appropriate or effective and this creates a continuing need to search for better ways to reduce the human, welfare and economic costs of these infections. To this end, Le Studium Institute of Advanced Studies organized a two-day conference to identify major gaps in our understanding of ascarid parasites with a view to setting research priorities that would allow for improved control. The participants identified several key areas for future focus, comprising of advances in genomic analysis and the use of model organisms, especially Caenorhabditis elegans, a more thorough appreciation of the complexity of host-parasite (and parasite-parasite) communications, a search for novel anthelmintic drugs and the development of effective vaccines. The participants agreed to try and maintain informal links in the future that could form the basis for collaborative projects, and to co-operate to organize future meetings and workshops to promote ascarid research.
类圆线虫是一大类寄生线虫，可感染多种动物物种。在人类中，它们引起被忽视的贫困病；许多动物寄生虫也会引起人类的人畜共患病感染。控制措施包括卫生和驱虫治疗，但这些措施并不总是合适或有效的，因此需要不断寻找更好的方法来降低这些感染给人类、福利和经济带来的成本。为此，Le Studium 高级研究所组织了为期两天的会议，以确定我们对类圆线虫寄生虫理解方面的主要差距，以期确定可改善控制的研究重点。与会者确定了未来关注的几个关键领域，包括基因组分析和模式生物（尤其是秀丽隐杆线虫）的使用方面的进展，更深入地了解宿主-寄生虫（和寄生虫-寄生虫）之间的复杂关系，寻找新的驱虫药物以及开发有效的疫苗。与会者同意努力保持未来的非正式联系，这些联系可能成为合作项目的基础，并合作组织未来的会议和研讨会，以促进类圆线虫的研究。
