To investigate the effect of repeated percutaneous exposure to schistosome larvae on immune regulation in the skin, Mountford and colleagues used a mouse model of skin infection with Schistosoma mansoni. Repeated infection resulted in interleukin-10 (IL-10) production by dermal CD4+ T cells that do not express markers of classical regulatory T cells. In IL-10-deficient mice, neutrophil recruitment and T cell proliferation were increased, which suggests that the IL-10 response functions to limit inflammation and tissue damage. IL-10-producing dermal T cells were specific for both skin commensal bacteria and, later, schistosome antigens. The authors suggest that commensal bacteria gain access to the dermis during parasite penetration and elicit an early regulatory response. This could be a strategy used by the parasite to evade the host immune response.