Measurement of hookworm infection intensity and circulating levels of IgE and autoantibodies to IgE in atopics and nonatopics living in a parasitized community in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

We have compared hookworm infection intensity, as determined by fecal egg count, and circulating levels of IgE and autoantibodies to IgE in atopic and nonatopic parasitized (predominantly hookworm-infected) patients from Kebasob village on Karkar Island, Papua New Guinea. Our study has clearly established that parasitized atopic individuals have significantly higher levels of IgE and autoanti-IgE than their nonatopic counterparts, and that atopy does not appear to influence accumulated levels of hookworm infection. These data, therefore, do not support an earlier report that suggested that the atopic state may confer increased resistance to hookworm infestation in a parasitized community in Papua New Guinea.