Unique parasite study finds treatment shortcomings

A recent study of wild mice has suggested that the use of drugs to treat an infection, could allow co-existing conditions to flourish.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh treated wild wood mice for a gut worm infection over the course of several weeks.

Scientists monitored levels of the worm during the course of the treatment, and tested the mice for several other common parasite infections.

Whilst the treatment lowered the levels of the gut worm, researchers found that levels of other parasites in the gut increased.

The research suggests that where infections co-exist, the treatment of one may allow the others to thrive, even to the detriment of overall health.

Dr Amy Pedersen of the university's School of Biological Sciences, said: "In nature, infections rarely occur by themselves, and this study shows for the first time that treating infections in isolation can have knock-on effects for other diseases that may be present.

"More work is needed to understand the effect of drug treatment for disease where individuals are prone to, or likely to be carrying a range of infections."

The research was carried out in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, and has been published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Image: Wood mouse, © Hans Hillewaert / CC-BY-SA-3.0