Competing for blood: How ecologists are solving infectious disease mysteries

(Princeton University) By looking at malaria infections and hookworms as competitors battling over a key resource -- red blood cells -- Princeton ecologists Andrea Graham and Sarah Budischak were able to explain why co-infected patients often got sicker after being dewormed: without the hookworms to keep it in check, the malaria infection ran rampant.
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Source Type: news