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Wim Goettsch,¹ Johan Garssen,¹ Anton Deijns,¹ Frank R. de Gruijl,² and Henk van Loveren¹

¹National Institute for Public Health and Environmental Protection, Bilthoven, the Netherlands
²Department of Dermatology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Abstract
To assess the possibility that increases in UV-B exposure on the earth's surface could lead to impaired resistance to several infectious diseases, we studied the effect of UV-B exposure on resistance against Trichinella spiralis. Wistar rats, orally infected with T. spiralis larvae, were exposed to suberythemal doses of UV-B radiation daily for 5 days at different time periods before or after infection. A significant increase in the number of Trichinella larvae was found in the carcasses of rats irradiated with UV-B between 6 and 10 days after infection. These data indicate that exposure to UV-B radiation suppresses the resistance to a parasitic infection. We suggested that UV-B radiation especially suppresses cellular immune responses against these worms because specific IgM, IgG, and IgE titers were not significantly altered by UV-B exposure. These data indicate that UV-B irradiation plays a role in the course of infection with T. spiralis, which suggests that increases of UV-B exposure might also lead to problems with other infectious diseases and might affect vaccination because of the interaction of UV-B irradiation with memory T-cells. Key words: antibodies, immunosuppression, infectious diseases, ozone layer, Trichinella spiralis, ultraviolet-B radiation. Environ Health Perspect 102: 298-301(1994)

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1994/102-3/goettsch.html

Address correspondence to J. Garssen, National Institute for Public Health and Environmental Protection, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the Netherlands.

This work was supported by the National Research Programme Global Change grant 850017 from the Ministry of Public Housing and Environmental Protection and Environment Research Programme grant EV5V-CT910028 from the European Community. We thank H. de Rooij for his technical assistance and J.G. Vos for reviewing this manuscript.

Received 2 September 1993 ; accepted 28 December 1993.