Getting around the roundworms: Identifying knowledge gaps and research priorities for the ascarids.

Advances in parasitology 2024

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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. Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Citation

Adrian J Wolstenholme, Erik C Andersen, Shivani Choudhary, Friederike Ebner, Susanne Hartmann, Lindy Holden-Dye, Sudhanva S Kashyap, Jürgen Krücken, Richard J Martin, Ankur Midha, Peter Nejsum, Cedric Neveu, Alan P Robertson, Georg von Samson-Himmelstjerna, Robert Walker, Jianbin Wang, Bradley J Whitehead, Paul D E Williams. Getting around the roundworms: Identifying knowledge gaps and research priorities for the ascarids. Advances in parasitology. 2024;123:51-123