Patients On Hookworm Therapy Swear By Treatment

A study of the use of porcine whipworm eggs to treat Crohn's resulted in my all-time favorite headline:

"Diet of worms can cure bowel disease"

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4852-diet-of-worms-can...

(for those who don't remember their AP Euro: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_Worms )

study link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15591509

You might not be able to tell from this particular article but this is being seriously studied:

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

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17123987

http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2004/may/052104worms.html

I believe they use worms that cannot permanently "infest" hosts.. they have to be reintroduced on a regular schedule.

"Scots said he experienced some itching where the band aid was, which he understood, was the larvae making their way into the blood stream.

What happens next is the hookworms then travel from the blood stream into the lungs, where once there, causes the patient to naturally cough. Patients then cough the microscopic helminthes up into the throat, then swallow them, and this is how hookworms get to the intestines, where they latch on, and they begin to mature."

That was actually kind of cool to read. Parasites hack their way into our bodies.

And in related anecdotal news...

Arthritis Patients Swear By New Laser Treatment http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/4050529/detail.html

The Weed that Cancer Patients Swear by http://www.naturalbuy.com/the-weed-that-cancer-patients-swea...

Acupuncture popularity soars despite thin evidence http://www.santafenewmexican.com/HealthandScience/Acupunctur...

Imagine that. People who have voluntarily infested themselves with parasites are inclined to justify that decision to the press. I am shocked.

A Kuro5hin classic about the subject: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2006/4/30/91945/8971