Are Hookworms the Next Claritin?

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2009/07/22/are-hookworms-the-next-claritin/

by iamelgringo • 17 years ago

17 26 17 years ago

blogs.discovermagazine.com

rizzn2• 17 years ago

This sounds like the least desirable treatment for allergies ever.

I'm all for alternative medicines, but this sounds fraught with peril.

rsheridan6• 17 years ago

Maybe so, but the docs had him on prednisone, which is also fraught with peril: http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?id=3735#nl...

JacobAldridge• 17 years ago

No, I vote maggots for the removal of necrotic or poorly-healing skin for the title of "least desirable". http://drbloem.wordpress.com/2008/10/11/maggot-debridement-t...

At least hookworms are out of sight and (unless there's a rupture into the bloodstream) out of mind.

maxharris• 17 years ago

This isn't really alternative medicine. You need to become better acquainted with the hygiene hypothesis:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis

We've covered this material in both of the immunology courses at my university. It's a fairly uncontroversial idea nowadays (and it should be that way, given the evidence).

You might have this idea that you're somehow a biologically independent organism from the commensals in your gut and skin, but you're not. Humans (and other animals, of course) evolved symbiotically with their intestinal flora, and are heavily dependent on it for survival.

If still you feel that this is yucky, remember that you have about three pounds of bacteria in your gut (at least in an average healthy human adult), and you need it to live!

This does not mean that we shouldn't find another way of treating people (with a vaccine that stimulates IgE production against worms, for instance). For the moment, however, worms are cheap (and they appear to work). And if you purify your culture properly, they really aren't a bad idea; clinical trials with them are underway for a variety of conditions (MS, for one).

Finally, remember that anti-vaccine nutters often invoke phrases such as "fraught with peril" when railing against vaccines. But consider the peril we would all be in without them!

jonny_noog• 17 years ago

Came across this topic in another unrelated thread on this very site the other day. The below link was given and was quite informative about the "Old Friends Hypothesis" and Helminthic therapy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helminthic_therapy

I have a personal interest in any new treatments for MS so I am following this topic with great enthusiasm.

rizzn2• 17 years ago

I'm in no way a medical expert, and can't claim to be. As I told my wife this afternoon when I was changing her dressings following some surgery, I got into computer science so I wouldn't hafta deal with the other yuckier sciences.

I'm well aware of the bacteria and other creepy crawlies living in my body.

Common sense, to me, dictates that introducing other living cultures into my body seems to be a bit dangerous and fraught with potential unintended consequences, to further clarify my "fraught with peril" comment from earlier.

So, to that end, I can't tell you from any sort of personal experience or learned knowledge whether they work. It just seems like something I wouldn't want. Irrational? Maybe.

Sorta reminds me of the old comedian standby joke: "who was the first guy to look at a cow teat and say 'we're all going to drink what comes out of THAT?'"

ikitat2• 17 years ago

WNYC's Radiolab did a great segment on one of their recent shows.

http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/09/07/parasites/

People take dangerous steroids and/or extremely expensive biological treatments to knock down active immune systems. Worms seem like they have potential.

aaroneous• 17 years ago

I <3 radiolab so hard.

ShabbyDoo• 17 years ago

How quickly can conventional medicine rid me of hookworms should I dislike the results of harboring them?

nobody_nowhere3• 17 years ago

The interwebs say a drug called mebendazole "cures more than 99 percent of all cases of hookworm if given twice per day for three days cures more than 99 percent of all cases of hookworm if given twice per day for three days"

aaronblohowiak• 17 years ago

Why not local organic unpasteurized honey?

berntb• 17 years ago

Human parasites in honey? Must be a weird life cycle! References?

sp332• 17 years ago

Not parasites, just honey. Sorry no references, but the idea is that honey from local allergens (flowers) allows your body to "recognize" the allergens as not harmful, and stop producing spurious antibodies to fight them.

UncleOxidant• 17 years ago

Side effects?

ikitat2• 17 years ago

Mostly asymptomatic unless you get a severe infection (lots of worms) which can lead to anemia and protein deficiency.

chrischen• 17 years ago

Is this supposed to work with any parasites? 'cause my doctor said I have scabies, and I still have allergies. But then again, my doctor was probably wrong... scabies??

NathanKP2• 17 years ago

No scabies is an external mite infestation. The theory is that the hookworms are internal so something about them stops allergies.

modelic3• 17 years ago

The article mentions something about immune systems not developing properly but I'm sure there are better ways of exercising your immune system other than infecting yourself with parasites.

Perceval• 17 years ago

This guy writes up his adventures infecting himself with hookworms over at k5: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2009/3/16/3408/66053

nobody_nowhere3• 17 years ago

I'm married to a Crohn's Disease sufferer, one of the conditions people talk about hookworms as a treatment for. It's one of those squidgy conditions that doctors don't understand that well and can have a hard time treating. The remedies might have unpleasant side effects (steroids - weight gain, methotrexate - cancer).

The Discover article is typical crap science writing, but if you've got a condition that puts you on the toilet with diarrhea four times a day, getting infected with some little worms can start to sound like an appealing alternative. To stop a little bout of hay fever? Not so much.

tjpick2• 17 years ago

> To stop a little bout of hay fever? Not so much.

how about to stop uncontrollable sneezing, blocked sinuses, itchy streaming eyes for half the year?

Not that I'm rushing out to buy me some worms - but don't trivialise hay fever. It's a bitch, too.

nobody_nowhere3• 17 years ago

Fair enough... I guess my impression was that existing treatments were pretty tolerable

nwjsmith• 17 years ago

WNYC's Radiolab just aired a show on parasites, which included an impressive story on the ability of hookworms to heal.

Check it out: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/

NathanKP2• 17 years ago

I believe that the reason why this works is because the bodies immune system fights the hookworms rather than wasting energy fighting allergens.

The basic reason why allergy suffers like me have such adverse reactions to common things such as pollen and cat dander is because the immune system over reacts.

From How Things Work:

As amazing as the immune system is, it sometimes makes mistakes. Allergies are the result of a hypersensitive immune system. The allergic immune system misidentifies an otherwise innocuous substance as harmful, and then attacks the substance with a ferocity far greater than required. The problems this attack can cause range from mildly inconvenient and uncomfortable to the total failure of the organism the immune system is supposed to be protecting.

So hookworms give the immune system something else to fight rather than allergens.

For that matter contracting AIDS would probably also limit or stop your allergies. (I'm not completely positive on that, just a theory.)

lurkinggrue• 17 years ago

Ummmmmm, I'll stick to Calritin thank you very much.

Are Hookworms the Next Claritin?

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