TY - JOUR T1 - Genetics of Parasitic Infections JF - Drug Metabolism and Disposition JO - Drug Metab Dispos SP - 484 LP - 488 VL - 29 IS - 4 AU - Alain. J. Dessein AU - Christophe Chevillard AU - Sandrine Marquet AU - Sandrine Henri AU - Dominique Hillaire AU - Helia Dessein Y1 - 2001/04/01 UR - http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/29/4/484.abstract N2 - Parasites cause much suffering mainly in countries of the southern hemisphere. Hundreds of millions of individuals are infected by schistosomes, leishmanias, plasmodiums, trypanosomes, and various other parasites, and severe clinical disease occurs in a sizable fraction of the infected population causing death and severe sequelae. The outcome, asymptomatic, subclinical or clinical disease, of an infection depends mostly on the parasite and on its host. Several groups analyzing the genetics of human susceptibility to parasites have began to identify the critical steps of the pathogenic mechanisms in a few parasitic infections such as malaria and schistosomiasis. The present article, which is not meant to be an exhaustive review of the field, illustrates the progresses made in this field from pioneer studies in animals to works in endemic populations using modern strategies of human genetics. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics ER -