The article “A Darwinian View of
the Hygiene or ‘Old Friends’ Hypothesis” by Graham A.W Rook details the
specific outcomes of research that supports the hygiene hypothesis. This
hypothesis states that some autoimmune diseases are becoming more prevalent in
developed areas due to the lack of exposure to pathogens at a young age. This
is due as the lack of pathogen exposure suppresses the natural progression of
the immune system and causes a lower degree of immune tolerance. The article
“For the Good of the Gut: Can Parasitic Worms Treat Autoimmune Diseases?” by
Ferris Jabr elaborates on a specific field of research that is associated with
the hygiene hypothesis. Jabr focuses on
the ingestion of parasitic worms to decrease the symptoms associated with
gastrointestinal diseases.
In the article by Jabr, it was
mentioned that the use of whipworms completely treated the symptoms of a man’s
colitis. The article then continues with additional data that supports the use
of helminthic therapy without listing any of its’ drawbacks. When reading the
article, I initially believed that the whipworm parasite was just a benign worm
that probably just hung around in the intestines for a little bit before being
passed out without causing any symptoms. However, a quick online search shows
that while light infestations of less that 100 worms are usually symptomless
(the examples of helminthic therapies in the article used up from 1000-3000
worms), anything more than that number may cause additional GI symptoms such as
abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, and even bacterial infections from the worms
penetrating the intestinal lining. These symptoms are for acute expose to the
worms only, but seeing as the worm eggs in helminthic therapy need to be
reintroduced continually in order to remain symptom free (from the autoimmune
disease), it is possible that more serious chronic symptoms can occur. This is
why I don’t think helminthic therapy will be a viable option in the future
mainly because the costs outweigh the benefits.
However, in the article by Rook he
states that the GI microbiota also exert a degree of immunoregulatory control.
Because the bacteria in the gut flora is so numerous and has a great deal of
diversity/ variation from person to person, it presents a better target in developing
therapies against autoimmune diseases. Specifically in determining which
species of bacteria are helpful in reducing the symptoms of certain diseases
and which species exacerbate the symptoms.
Woah! I’m really glad you looked into that. Naturally, I assume that infecting yourself with helminths probably isn’t the greatest thing in the world for your health, but the fact that that guy swallowed 10+ times as many eggs as the number that is considered to be symptomless is so crazy. It also seems really crazy that he took it upon himself (based on the research of a man he didn’t know and was in no contact with) to infect himself with worms in order to treat his colitis. In all seriousness, that must be an awful, painful disease if he felt it necessary to resort to such drastic measures. It seems strange that while normally a helminth infection causes gastrointestinal problems, in this man’s case it eased the symptoms of his disease. I agree that chronic infection with helminths seems like it could have detrimental long term effects. This man had been self-infecting for a few years when this article was written, and even though there had only been positive effects for him then, who’s to say that continuing to infect himself would not lead to gastrointestinal damage? It is also concerning that every time he swallowed more eggs, he upped the dose significantly. Although helminthic therapy is an intriguing option for diseases like ulcerative colitis, I think there definitely needs to be long term research done as to whether or not it’s an effective and healthy option.
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