Posted on 07/03/2008 8:12:29 PM PDT by neverdem
In the early 1990s, Joel Weinstock, a gastroenterologist, encountered a puzzle. The prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (I.B.D.) across North America increased markedly during the 20th century. Many thought that “bad” genes would eventually explain the spike, but Weinstock didn’t buy it. In areas where fewer than two generations ago the I.B.D. incidence might have been as low as 1 in 10,000, it...
--snip--
If eliminating worms led to an increase in disease, could re-introducing worms actually treat these diseases? In mice, the answer was yes. Worms were used to “inoculate” against mouse asthma, Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis and I.B.D. But how to re-worm humans? We got rid of them for a reason. Too many worms can lead to anemia or obstructed bowels. The wrong kind can cause considerable suffering, even death.
Weinstock spotted a prime candidate on pig farms. Pig farmers are chronically exposed to Trichuris suis, the pig whipworm, and tolerate it with no apparent side effects. (This is not the potentially dangerous worm found in undercooked pork.)
In 2005, he published results from two human studies. After ingesting 2,500 microscopic T. suis eggs at 3-week intervals for 24 weeks, 23 of 29 Crohn’s patients responded positively. (Crohn’s disease belongs to the I.B.D. family, which also includes ulcerative colitis.) Twenty-one went into complete remission. In the second study, 13 of 30 ulcerative colitis patients improved compared with 4 in the 24-person placebo group.
Scientists around the world are intrigued. Several large studies are under way. Trials using T. suis eggs on patients with multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s and hay fever are beginning in the United States, Australia and Denmark, respectively. In Germany, scientists are planning studies on asthma and food allergies. Other European scientists, meanwhile, plan to replicate many of these experiments with Necator americanus, a human hookworm...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Bump for later.
I was regularly infected with round worms as a child, and today my bowels are paragons of elliminative eficiency. Guess those nights with an itchy sphincter were worth it!
put me on the list, thanks!
That’s a snake in the head, not a worm in the belly.
an unusual micro ping
If I recall, the point is to elicit a type IV immune reaction which would be to fungus and worms rather than to bacteria.
Add me, please and thank you.
Weinstock foresees new worm-based drugs.
Innerestin’.
Could you please add me to this list?
Thank you.
I added you to the diabetes list.
True enough, but if the hypothesis is correct, maybe they all have the same etiology. We like to separate immunology from neurology, but the two disciplines are probably more involved with each other than we realize, especially in the gut, IMHO.
***If eliminating worms led to an increase in disease, could re-introducing worms actually treat these diseases?***
And I thought the problem was caused by being around certain people who were a pain in the butt, like my worthless brother-in-law (If you know him he probably owes you money).
From what I’ve read, IBS is directly related to mood disorders, specifically depression. In other words, it’s something to do with neurochemicals, not the digestive tract.
While trying not to be gross, I will say that I suffered from horrible IBS for years. Once my depression was diagnosed and I began drug therapy, the IBS vanished.
To my knowledge, I have never had worms of any kind...
Earlier last century, a French diet pill did indeed contain tapeworm eggs.
Amazing! It makes some sense but it would be the last way anyone would look at it. Even alternative medicine is rife with ways to eliminate intestinal worms.
Not a flu ping, but of medical interest...(Thanks, neverdem!)
Cheers!
I don’t know. If this theory of too much cleanliness holds up, introducing more live bacteria into an already too clean system might hurt more than help. The intestinal bacteria need something else to eat besides the intestine itself.
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