The latest in our award-winning series of parasite comics Helminths: The Secret World of Parasitic Worms features research on schistosomiasis, a chronic disease affecting 200 million people worldwide - many in Sub-Saharan Africa. The comic also explores how parasitic worms may help us to understand, and even treat, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease.

It tells the story of the Lamberton Lab's work in Uganda on ways to reduce schistosomiasis transmission and improve treatment, and the work of the Maizels Lab in trying to understand how worm infections interact with the immune system and may offer some protection against autoimmune diseases.

Helminths comic image - village view

Like the other comics in the series, Helminths was drawn by comic artist Edward Ross and the storyline was developed with Dr Jamie Hall, who was a former PhD student at the WCIP.

The aim of the comics is to make our research more visible and accessible to a range of audiences and they are an important part of our public engagement programme. All of our comics can be downloaded here. To find out more about how we develop the comics, please read our blog.

 

 

 

First published: 1 October 2020

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