Worms considered healthy

[mdlbear]

This fascinating NY Times article says that there's evidence that the last century's resurgence of inflamatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's, and other autoimmune diseases, may be due to the corresponding decrease of parisitic worm "infections". It seems that they survive by suppressing the host's immune system...

The trick will be finding worms that don't do more harm than good.

(Via this post by mia_mcdavid.)

Comments

[nolly.livejournal.com]

I was just listening to a podcasted short story with a very similar premise -- there was a hemorraghic fever, and the only protection against it was a parasitic wasp. Interesting.

[carmiel.livejournal.com]

This isn't the first time I've heard that something bad for us can be good. I've read that leeches are used to prevent gangrene (sp?) for reattachment patients.

The universe justs keeps getting stranger and stranger.

[mdlbear]

Leeches also turn out to be good for other things, like large bruises.

Snake venom turns out to have some medicinal uses, too. And there have been reports of high fever mitigating autism.

Not merely stranger than we imagine, ...

This is similar

[capplor.livejournal.com]

to the theory that allergies (airborne varieties) are caused by keeping the home too sterile. Well, if the kids develop hay fever, it's NOT my fault.