ken_ichikawa Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 Anybody know about this and if it is real or a hoax? Or any other unconventional cures? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Woods? Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Anybody know about this and if it is real or a hoax? Or any other unconventional cures? Thanks It's very real. Being used for all sorts of autoimmune things, initially relating to the gut but lots of experiments in the pipeline for all sorts of things. Makes sense, as our immune system evolved in a context of most humans being full of parasites. Edited to add: My recollection is that accupunture of all things seems to do better than placebo in trials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorkins Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 The idea is that a number of modern diseases are caused by us living in overly clean conditions (the "hygiene hypothesis") which mean that our immune system is not confronted with the attacks it has evolved to expect. A hunter gatherer (or a 3rd world dweller today) would have had lots of parasites and infections which we don't. In the absence of anything better to do, your immune system can start to attack your own body and cause autoimmune diseases like asthma and irritable bowel syndrome. This led to therapies where non-disease-causing parasites are reintroduced into the body to help control the immune system in people with these conditions. The initial results look pretty promising to me. This wikipedia article has some links you could follow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Barlow Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Anybody know about this and if it is real or a hoax? Or any other unconventional cures? Thanks It is very real. I wouldn't call it a cure but it has the potential to significantly alter the course of some pretty nasty auto immune diseases. Hookworm (and whipworm) have been used in clinical trials sucessfully to treat Ulcerative Colitis, Crohns Disease, Asthma. It is currently in clincial trials at Nottingham for MS http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00630383 Pig Whipworm being trialled at Wisconsin for MS http://www.uwhealth.org/news/uw-to-test-egg-therapy-in-treatment-of-ms/12958 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Barlow Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Hookworm clinical trials with Relapsing, remitting MS http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseaction/show/pageid/2474 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Thanks for the info.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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