The relationships of nutrition and parasitism.

It has long been recognised that there is a close relationship between parasitism and nutrition although its true nature has not always been clear. Some of the relationships have been discussed in the reviews published by Lapage, (1937), von Brand, (1952), Hunter, (1953) and Smith, (1955). In the association as seen and described by field workers, there is likely to be some confusion of cause and effect because, in the human field, areas where parasitism is most serious - in the backward tropical and sub-tropical countries where overcrowding, lack of sanitation, poverty and illiteracy are the rule, both under-nutrition and malnutrition are almost universal