A group of researches from Maynooth University have made a significant breakthrough in the preventing a very common disease that effects one in eight people worldwide.
The scientists, who worked alongside researchers from Trinity College and Queen Mary University in London, have found a potential method of preventing Ascaris roundworm infection.
Gwendoline Deslyper and Dr Jim Carolan from Maynooth University were both involved in the research project, and they used mice to help find a conclusion to their studies.
"It seems the key determinant in resistance to it in mice may lie in highly oxidative conditions that presumably restricts and arrests successful larval migration within the hepatic environment - at least of the resistant strain," said Gwendoline Deslyper.
"By manipulating the hepatic ROS levels in the susceptible mouse strain we hope to determine the importance of the mitochondria and intrinsic ROS in conferring resistance to Ascaris." The lifecycle of the roundworm in humans sees the infection progress from the stomach, following ingestion of viable eggs which hatch as larvae, to the liver before moving to the lungs and returning to the stomach."
Dr Jim Carolan said: "The findings point to new options in our efforts to control a disease that affects around one eighth of our planet's population."
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