Although there is no evidence yet that it affects COVID-19 vaccines, schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease, has been associated with lower vaccine immunity for several vaccines.
China’s campaign from the 1950s to eradicate schistosomiasis, or ‘snail fever’, has been lauded ever since.
US National Library of Medicine
Schistosome worms infect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Researchers have discovered how to use inexpensive drones to identify disease hotspots in remote African villages.
Millions of young children get malaria. These two got it in 2010.
AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam
There’s a big market for new treatments for TB, malaria and other ailments. But most of these diseases afflict low-income people unable to pay for medicine.
Parasitic worms live in the soil and water where they can constantly reinfect people.
EPA/Jane Hahn