麻豆约拍

Adam Walton visits Aberystwyth to meet scientists from around the world studying parasites, as the British Parasitology Society hold their spring meeting.

Worms, ticks and protozoa are on the menu for the programme, as we catch up with the latest research into parasites.

Dr Annette MacLeod of the University of Glasgow was presented with the prestigious C A Wright medal for an outstanding contribution to parasitology, for her filed studies of African sleeping sickness, which is diagnosed by analysing the blood of the victim. Dr MacLeod's work showed that skin plays a significant but hitherto overlooked role in harbouring and transmission of the parasite that causes it.

Professor Alex Loukas from James Cook University in Australia chats to Adam about his research into hookworms and the potential benefits to sufferers of Crohn's dissease and Coeliac disease which could be derived from proteins secreted by hookworms.

We also hear from Professor Robert Poulin from Otago University in New Zealand who has studied social organisation within colonies of flatworms inside snails.