A pair of Schistosoma mansoni seen in SEM imaging (Credit: USUHS/Public Domain) ================================================================================== Usually, when parasitic worms attempt to invade the human body, the skin serves as the first line of defense. Pain receptors sound the alarm, prompting immune cells to swarm and stop the would-be invader in its tracks. However, new research has discovered that one of the world’s most pervasive parasitic worms, Schistosoma mansoni, sidesteps this natural alarm system by manipulating pain-sensing neurons to infiltrate a host’s body. A study published in The Journal of Immunology reveals how this blood fluke exploits a specialized class of neurons marked...