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01/01/1970
CHAIR OF ICOPA2022, DENMARK (ID 1618)
PRESIDENT OF WORLD FEDERATION OF PARASITOLOGISTS, SOUTH KOREA (ID 1619)
RECTOR OF UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (ID 2088)
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, SWITZERLAND (ID 1620)
WELCOME ON BEHALF OF SBSP AND DSP, AND ISFP AND EVPC (ID 2391)
MEMBER OF ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF SUPPORT TO PARTICIPANTS (ID 2392)
KEYNOTE: LIVING WITH PARASITES - IN GENERAL, AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE (ID 238)
Abstract
Abstract Body
The default state throughout our history is to be infected with parasites. However, this has changed dramatically during the last century in some parts of the world including Denmark. Here people were commonly infected with helminths just a century ago, while not know, but who knows, will they return in the future? Under the theme ‘Living with parasites’, I will cover how our Viking ancestors used to live with parasites and my own up, close and personal experiences with helminths and what the future might bring.
First, I will look into the past and show how we have identified helminth eggs in archaeological samples from northern Europe with the oldest dating back to the Viking age (AD 1030). We were able to reconstruct the full mtDNA genomes of ancient Ascaris sp. and Trichuris trichiura and using whole-genome sequencing on both the ancient and modern Trichuris samples we were able to infer how this parasite has been distributed globally in the past.
I will then move into some more personal experiences, namely my self-infection studies to uncover some basic aspects of T. trichiura biology, but also as a treatment of my chronic inflammatory condition, psoriasis.
Lastly, we move to the future. What is ahead of us? Will we see a re-introduction of parasites in the form of controlled infection, or the use of parasite-derived molecules, as novel therapies in the future or even as preventive medicine? What will new insight into host responses and parasite biology and treatment options in the future?