Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 24 June 1994:
Vol. 264. no. 5167, pp. 1884 - 1886
DOI: 10.1126/science.8009218
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Science, Vol 264, Issue 5167, 1884-1886
Copyright © 1994 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Mathematical studies of parasitic infection and immunity

RM Anderson

Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK.

The techniques that underpin modern molecular biology have been rapidly adopted by those interested in the major parasitic infections of humans. The parasitological literature is full of reports of genes and their amino acid sequences, of molecules, of cell membrane receptors and channels, and of the fine details of the immunological responses mounted by the host to combat infection. Much less enthusiasm has been shown for the mathematical techniques that facilitate the analysis and interpretation of dynamical processes such as transmission, evolution, and the interplay between parasite population growth and immunological responses within the host. Molecular techniques provide enormous opportunities for description, but ultimately, understanding biological systems with the precision that physicists and engineers aspire to in their own fields will require quantitative description of the many rate processes that dictate both an observed pattern and the dynamics of its change.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Estimating sequestered parasite population dynamics in cerebral malaria.
M. B. Gravenor, M. B. van Hensbroek, and D. Kwiatkowski (1998)
PNAS 95, 7620-7624
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)