[Is there a future for vaccines against gastrointestinal helminths?]

Vaccines against gastro-intestinal helminths have a large market potential, but they also generally have a narrow range of activity. This is a major drawback in the competition with the broad-spectrum anthelmintics and there is still a long way to go before molecular (recombinant) vaccines will appear on the market. Major problems are the induction of protective gut-mucosal immunity with subunit vaccines and the differences in genetic background within host populations, which largely determine the efficacy of vaccination. As yet the changes for vaccines against blood- and tissue parasites, comprising a number of veterinary important protozoa, seem to be better.