News Four years of excruciating seizures caused by the 1cm tapeworm found burrowing through a man's brain
- Thread starter Blobbenstein
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I read a similar article about this on Sky news.com. It sounds scary that these parasites can infest the human body.
Scorpius
The Lizard Queen
ledboots
Peace
Jeesh! Soon they may be using hookworms medically to treat celiac disease.... Celiac disease: A wriggly solution to an inflammatory condition -- ScienceDaily
The results are also good news for sufferers of other inflammatory conditions such as asthma and Crohn's disease.
In the small trial run over a year, 12 participants were each experimentally infected with 20 Necator americanus (hookworm) larvae.
They were then given gradually increasing doses of gluten -- beginning with just one-tenth of a gram per day (the equivalent of less than a one-inch segment of spaghetti) and increasing in two further stages to a final daily dose of three grams (75 spaghetti straws).
"By the end of the trial, with worms onboard, the trial subjects were eating the equivalent of a medium-sized bowl of spaghetti, with no ill effects," James Cook University (JCU) immunologist Paul Giacomin said.
"That's a meal that would usually trigger a debilitating inflammatory response, leaving a celiac patient suffering symptoms like diarrhea, cramps and vomiting."
Four participants withdrew in the earlier stages of the trial (for various reasons mostly unrelated to gluten) but the remaining eight experienced significant and ongoing benefits. "The eight who stuck with the trial were able to increase their gluten tolerance by a factor of 60, a massive change," said Alex Loukas, head of the Centre for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics at JCU, and joint principal investigator of the study. "We and others have had promising results in earlier trials but this is clear proof-of-principle of the benefits of hookworm in treating inflammatory disease," Professor Loukas said.
Significantly, all the trial subjects rejected the researchers' offer of drugs that would eliminate the hookworms. "They all chose to keep their worms, and they continue to report good health. However they were instructed to return to a gluten-free diet after the trial," Professor Loukas said.
The results are also good news for sufferers of other inflammatory conditions such as asthma and Crohn's disease.
In the small trial run over a year, 12 participants were each experimentally infected with 20 Necator americanus (hookworm) larvae.
They were then given gradually increasing doses of gluten -- beginning with just one-tenth of a gram per day (the equivalent of less than a one-inch segment of spaghetti) and increasing in two further stages to a final daily dose of three grams (75 spaghetti straws).
"By the end of the trial, with worms onboard, the trial subjects were eating the equivalent of a medium-sized bowl of spaghetti, with no ill effects," James Cook University (JCU) immunologist Paul Giacomin said.
"That's a meal that would usually trigger a debilitating inflammatory response, leaving a celiac patient suffering symptoms like diarrhea, cramps and vomiting."
Four participants withdrew in the earlier stages of the trial (for various reasons mostly unrelated to gluten) but the remaining eight experienced significant and ongoing benefits. "The eight who stuck with the trial were able to increase their gluten tolerance by a factor of 60, a massive change," said Alex Loukas, head of the Centre for Biodiscovery and Molecular Development of Therapeutics at JCU, and joint principal investigator of the study. "We and others have had promising results in earlier trials but this is clear proof-of-principle of the benefits of hookworm in treating inflammatory disease," Professor Loukas said.
Significantly, all the trial subjects rejected the researchers' offer of drugs that would eliminate the hookworms. "They all chose to keep their worms, and they continue to report good health. However they were instructed to return to a gluten-free diet after the trial," Professor Loukas said.
Calliegirl
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Now there's something you don't hear everyday.
ledboots
Peace
[emoji1] My niece and nephew have celiac disease, and my niece said she would rather have hookworms than the pain she is in.
^^^ I hope they find something to clear up the celiac soon.
I guess I can't say for sure, because going by the symptoms, I don't have celiac... but the dietary restrictions would be a truly massive pain. I probably wouldn't mind celiac so much if I were still eating meat, fish, egg, dairy, etc.
I guess I can't say for sure, because going by the symptoms, I don't have celiac... but the dietary restrictions would be a truly massive pain. I probably wouldn't mind celiac so much if I were still eating meat, fish, egg, dairy, etc.