Posted on 01/28/2009 7:39:48 PM PST by Steelfish
Infecting patients with worms 'could hold key to treating asthma'
Infecting patients with worms could hold the key to treating asthma and other conditions on the rise because of the modern obsession with cleanliness, scientists believe.
By Kate Devlin 28 Jan 2009
Researchers are testing whether parasitic worms can stimulate patients' immune systems to fight illnesses.
The worms have been all but eliminated from humans in developed countries, because of an increased emphasis on hygiene.
But experts believe their absence could be one of the reasons why some illnesses, including asthma and diabetes, are increasingly prevalent.
A trial by scientists at Nottingham University is testing whether infecting asthma sufferers with hookworms, by placing them on the patient's skin and allowing them to burrow their way into the body, can ease their symptoms.
American researchers are also attempting to replicate the results of an Argentinian study which showed that infecting multiple sclerosis sufferers with parasites slowed the progression of the condition.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I have asthma and I much prefer asthma to any worm infestation, thank you very much.!
I’ve read that there is a higher incidence of asthma among people who as kids grew up with cigarette smoke.
And the clean thing - it’s probably the toxic cleaners, not the absence of dirt. Practically all cleaners have perfumes that are really nasty; and bleach which many people clean with and is in other cleaners damages the lungs, especially childrens’. Automatic dishwasher detergent, Ajax and Comet, all kinds of toilet cleaners etc have bleach in them.
I am sure it is the cleaners themselves.
I have asthma, and I can assure you that I did not grow up in a sterile household. Neither did my husband, who also has asthma.
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