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   Immortality for Salford scientist... of a sort
Having a parasitic tapeworm that lives in the gut of a Tibetan vole named after you might not be everyone's idea of an honour, but for one Salford scientist it's recognition of how he's improved the health of Chinese nomads. The University's Professor Phil Craig has been honoured by French colleagues by having the newly discovered Heligmosomoides craigi named after him in honour of his work in China to prevent people becoming infected with parasitic organisms - potentially saving thousands of lives. The new species is one such organism, and inhabits a type of vole in Western China and Tibet. It was discovered during an expedition which also screened humans for alveolar echinococcosis - a disease which causes liver problems and even death. The new worm is about half a centimetre long and lives in the intestines of the Holarctic Arvicolinae on the Tibetan plateau. Many people in the region are semi-nomadic and live in close conditions with livestock and other animals meaning that infection rates are relatively high. Professor Craig was awarded a prize by the Chinese government in 2009 after he led an expedition which screened the livers of more than 10,000 people for infection and he is currently developing a programme to vaccinate dogs in the area. He said: "I guess that it's an eternal honour for me to be part of the world's biodiversity! Not many people can say they have a species named after them, even if it isn't the most attractive. "However, my work and that of my French colleagues is important to public health in a very poor and isolated part of the world and I'm genuinely pleased to be held in such esteem by my colleagues." Source: Salford University. Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
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