• 1 January 1971
    • journal article
    • Vol. 8 (1), 141-50
Abstract
An unusual form of immunological unresponsiveness peculiarly suited to the propagation of nematode parasites has been revealed by a study of the effect of repeated reinfection of rats from an early age with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. In essence such rats, while showing other signs of a functional immunity to the parasite, are unable to eliminate a threshold population of approximately 200 worms from the intestine, maintaining a patent infection beyond the time when their immunological competence would otherwise be fully developed and in the face of repeated challenge infections in adult life.