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July 1, 2008
Icky treatments for environmental diseases
I know I whine about allergies and such, but I'm not going for the Hookworm Treatment until it's well-proven!!
While carrying out field work in Papua New Guinea in the late 1980s, he noticed that Papuans infected with the Necator americanus hookworm, a parasite that lives in the human gut, did not suffer much from an assortment of autoimmune-related illnesses, including hay fever and asthma. Over the years, Dr. Pritchard has developed a theory to explain the phenomenon.“The allergic response evolved to help expel parasites, and we think the worms have found a way of switching off the immune system in order to survive,” he said. “That’s why infected people have fewer allergic symptoms.”
To test his theory, and to see whether he can translate it into therapeutic pay dirt, Dr. Pritchard is recruiting clinical trial participants willing to be infected with 10 hookworms each in hopes of banishing their allergies and asthma.
. . .
“Sitting in the jungle for long periods gives you time to think,” he noted. “And this led to the idea that worm burdens of tolerable intensity could be beneficial under some circumstances.”
Note the qualifiers - "tolerable" and "some circumstances." Read the whole thing - it's nasty.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at July 1, 2008 9:45 AM
Comments
Oh. Ick.
Not for me. I think I'd rather have the allergies.
Posted by: Belle at July 3, 2008 6:16 AM