There were many different ideas with regard to the appearance of tooth-worms. In England, for instance, it was thought that the tooth-worm looked like an eel. In Northern Germany, people supposed the tooth-worm to be red, blue, and gray and in many cases the worm was compared to a maggot. The gnawing worm was held responsible for many evils and, in particular, was blamed for toothache provoked by caries. In popular medicine, numerous therapies were applied in order to eradicate the tooth-worm.
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According to the authors, this observation helps explain several phenomena associated with HIV infection and may pave the way for new approaches to eliminating the virus from the blood. For the study, B cells were isolated from the blood of people with chronic HIV infection. When these cells were examined for the presence of HIV, it was found that significant levels of the virus attached to the surface of the cells. Subsequent in vitro experiments showed that the virus could also infect T cells. Because of the close interaction between B and T cells in the immune system, this discovery casts new light on how HIV can interact with T cells.