Microbiology
In microbiology, a nurse cell is an infected cell in the disease trichinosis discovered by Dickson Despommier. A trichinella larva enters a cell and develops there, probably as a way of concealing itself from the immune system. The parasite has evolved a way of stimulating blood vessel development around the cell, in order to receive the nutrients it needs. In trichinosis, nurse cells are invariably skeletal muscle cells; these are the only type of cell that can support the parasite.
Read more about this topic: Nurse Cell