2s- Immune evasion

Question 1

What are ways in which parasites have evolved to evade host immune systems?

Answer 1

• endoparasites mimic host antigens to evade detection and modify host immune response to reduce their chances of destruction
• antigenic variation allows them to change between different antigens during the course of infection of a host (this may also allow re-infection of the same host with the new variant)
• ## some viruses escape immune surveillance by intergrating their genome into host genomes, existing in an inactive state known as latency, the virus can then become active again when favourable conditions arise