Parasite pioneer has worm named after him

A UK scientist who has spent years involved in pioneering work to understand how a highly virulent parasite infects people in Tibet and western China has been rewarded - by having a microscopic worm that lives in voles' guts named after him. "We were collaborating with several groups, including a French group, specifically to identify those rodents that might act as a reservoir for this nasty parasite," explained Phil Craig, a professor of biology at the University of Salford.

"While doing this, a number of other organisms were found, including the one that was named Heligmosomoides craigi," he modestly recalled. The worm is only found in the gut of a particular species of vole in the Microtus genus, which is endemic to parts of China and Mongolia. The honour was bestowed upon him by French researchers earlier this year in recognition of devoting his "professional life to promoting parasite eco-epideiological studies in China".



For more than a decade, Professor Craig has been working in Tibet and western China to study the highly pathogenic parasite that is transmitted from dogs and foxes to people. He insisted that the issue of zoonoses (diseases transmitted from animals to humans) on the Tibetan Plateau was the more interesting story, rather than how a niche species of roundworm got its name.

"What happens is that a Tibetan fox predates on a rodent, and the parasite is transmitted to the fox," he began. "Now, if a dog eats a rodent infected with this particular parasite, then the dog can become infected and has the worm in its gut and can pass out infected eggs. That means people can become infected as a result of contact with the dogs or dog faeces."