Fig. 5
Faecal bacterial alpha diversity of volunteers with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) experimentally infected with Necator americanus (N+), or placebo-treated (PBO). When available, trends in Shannon diversity at 1 week prior to the beginning of the study (Tpre), at 1, 5, and 9 months post-infection/placebo treatment (T1, T5, and T9, respectively), and 2 months post-anthelmintic treatment (Tpost) are shown for both N+ (light red) and PBO (blue) subjects who suffered a clinical relapse over the course of the WIRMS trial. The stylised MRI scan indicate the timepoint(s) at which clinical relapses and new MRI lesions were recorded, whilst arrows indicate whether faecal bacterial alpha diversity increased, decreased or remained unaltered following the relapse. Asterisks (*) indicate patients who were administered steroid treatment (methylprednisolone, 2500 to 3000 mg, over 3 to 5 days) following the clinical and radiological relapse