City study to help vaccines

A STUDY by University of Edinburgh scientists could help develop vaccines for diseases in some of the world's poorest communities.

The team from the School of Biological Sciences showed that parasites which enter the body can speed up their growth rate to counter a strong immune reaction. The study was carried out on mice, and further work is now needed to see if the results also apply to other animals and people.

If so, the discovery could help in the control of tropical diseases such as elephantiasis and river blindness, which affect some 200 million people in tropical South-East Asia, Africa and Central America.

Study leader Dr Simon Babayan said: "We hope this latest finding will help inform the design of future vaccines against these infections."