Sauce: [url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/22/2721267.htm?section=australia[/url]
[quote]Researchers at Brisbane's Princess Alexandra Hospital have shown for the first time that parasitic hookworms could hold the key to treating coeliac disease, which is caused by gluten intolerance.
The scientists recruited 20 participants for their human trial through the Coeliac Society.
They infected half of them with live human hookworms. The parasites burrowed into participants' skin and entered the bloodstream after being applied to the forearm.
They then travelled via the lungs to the gut where they happily colonised.
For 21 weeks, the coeliac patients were fed white bread each day and were examined for a reaction.
The study's co-author, Dr James Daveson, says patients with the parasitic gut worm fared dramatically better to gluten exposure than those without.
"They experienced less inflammation and less damage was seen in the intestinal wall," he said.
At the end of the trial, the volunteers were offered worm medication to rid themselves of the parasites, but all chose to keep their worms.
The study will be presented at the Australian Gastroenterology Week conference in Sydney.
The researchers say further trials are needed, but they believe the findings could help in the treatment of other auto-immune diseases including Crohn's disease and multiple sclerosis.
Dr Daveson says people need parasites for optimum health.
"Over the last two to three generations we've got cleaner and lived in more hygienic surrounds and we've effectively de-wormed ourselves," he said.
"But parasites have been in our bowels for millions of years and we think they probably should be.
"Without them, one arm of our immune system gets up-regulated too much - it becomes too strong - and by introducing these parasites, downplays that arm of the immune system and brings out the other arm back into equilibrium."
But Dr Daveson cautions against rushing out to try and catch hookworms.
"The best treatment for coeliac disease remains a strict gluten-free diet," he said.
"We're commencing the next phase of this trial this month, but until further work is done and things are clearer, patients should remain on that diet."[/quote]
[img]http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200910/r456666_2233925.jpg[/img]
I have a gluten intolerance and this is well worth having my own colony of hookworms. Sign me up!
So THAT'S what those things were... And all those years I thought I had an infestation.
Hook worms also fix severe allergies.
Nice to have a colony of symbiotes in ya.
-snippity snip-
I wouldn't be all that surprised if people did start trying to get hookworms
I'm sorry... but that's the most disturbing thing science had done in a while.
I actually had an infection of tapeworms once. I don't care what things I couldn't eat, nothing is worth going through that.
[QUOTE=Analog;17955142]So... do you like eat the eggs or something?[/QUOTE]
wow really
[QUOTE=TailsPrower;17955147]I'm sorry... but that's the most disturbing thing science had done in a while.
I actually had an infection of tapeworms once. I don't care what things I couldn't eat, nothing is worth going through that.[/QUOTE]
Hookworms are no where near as nasty as a tapeworm.
They [I]BURROW INTO YOUR SKIN?![/I]
Okay, I'm pretty sure there's a better way of application than that.
Oh God, I cannot stand the thought of things living inside me like that. I don't care what they fix, I'm not putting that shit in my blood.
Thank christ i have no allergies or any shit like that.
Naturally healthy humans for the win.
[QUOTE=lintz;17955416]They [I]BURROW INTO YOUR SKIN?![/I]
Okay, I'm pretty sure there's a better way of application than that.[/QUOTE]
I'd rather take a tube up my ass then a needle through my skin.
I love worms
[QUOTE=ShitBalls;17956132]I'd rather take a tube up my ass then a needle through my skin.[/QUOTE]
Is a tube the only thing you'd take up the ass?
See guys, someone from Australia did something good.
hookworms, despite sounding horribly gutwrenching, are actually quite a nice addition to your body. you'll just have to eat more food, but hey, you have a healthy body.
Personally I think the notion of "well we used to do it like this, so we should totally do it like that now" is fucking idiotic. It's the same thing with people who advocate eating raw meat, or only eating what you can hunt or gather etc.
[QUOTE=aznz888;17957255]hookworms, despite sounding horribly gutwrenching, are actually quite a nice addition to your body. you'll just have to eat more food, but hey, you have a healthy body.[/QUOTE]
Or hey, you could just be fucking healthy without a million parasites roaming around inside of you.
Reminds me of Uremboros from Resident Evil 5
[QUOTE=lintz;17955416]They [I]BURROW INTO YOUR SKIN?![/I]
Okay, I'm pretty sure there's a better way of application than that.[/QUOTE]
Nah that is how the hookworms work. They travel between hosts by being deposited somewhere and then eventually coming into skin contact with another potential host.
You wouldn't feel it or likely even know it was happening.
hmm, maybe if the thought of worm poop floating through my blood didnt make my slightly sick then I would do it.
[QUOTE=Smirnoff Joe;17955131]Nice to have a colony of symbiotes in ya.[/QUOTE]
everyone has giant colonies of bacteria and other small organisms (sometimes even small multicellular ones) living in their small intestines, colon, stomach throat and mouth.
[img]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/stargate/images/thumb/1/13/Goa%27uld.JPG/250px-Goa%27uld.JPG[/img]
Sounds like goa'uld to me.
[QUOTE=HellBring;17955394]Hookworms are no where near as nasty as a tapeworm.[/QUOTE]How so? I'm not an expert, but aren't they around the same size?
[QUOTE=Shugo;17955673]Oh God, I cannot stand the thought of things living inside me like that. I don't care what they fix, I'm not putting that shit in my blood.[/QUOTE]
Do you realize you already host a ton of organisms in your body? You share a mutual relationship with them, which is what happens here.
[editline]03:11PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=SM0K3 B4N4N4;17958256]everyone has giant colonies of bacteria and other small organisms (sometimes even small multicellular ones) living in their small intestines, colon, stomach throat and mouth.[/QUOTE]
Ninja'd :(
[QUOTE=SM0K3 B4N4N4;17958256]everyone has giant colonies of bacteria and other small organisms (sometimes even small multicellular ones) living in their small intestines, colon, stomach throat and mouth.[/QUOTE]Probiotic bacteria are a little different from worms that latch on to the sides of your intestines.
[QUOTE=ShitBalls;17956132]I'd rather take a tube up my ass then a needle through my skin.[/QUOTE]
We should get together some time :q:
[QUOTE=Smirnoff Joe;17955131]Nice to have a colony of symbiotes in ya.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2009/04/14/apophis.jpg[/img]
It just doesn't appeal to me for some reason.
If they help the host they're no longer parasitic are they?
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
