Diet of worms can cure bowel disease

New Scientist ^ | 19:00 06 April 04

[Jeff Chandler]

Diet of worms can cure bowel disease

19:00 06 April 04

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Regular doses of worms really do rid people of inflammatory bowel disease. The first trials of the treatment have been a success, and a drinkable concoction containing thousands of pig whipworm eggs could soon be launched in Europe.

At the moment the concoction cannot be stored for long, so doctors or hospitals would have to prepare fresh batches of the eggs for their patients. But a new German company called BioCure, whose sister company BioMonde sells leeches and maggots for treating wounds, hopes it will soon solve the storage problem.

It plans to launch a product called TSO, short for Trichuris suis ova. Chief executive Detlev Goj says the company will apply for approval by the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products as soon as the product is ready.

The pig whipworm was chosen as it does not survive very long in people. Patients would have to take TSO around twice a month. The human whipworm, which infects half a billion people, can occasionally cause problems such as anaemia.

The latest trials, carried out in the US, involved 100 people with ulcerative colitis and 100 with Crohn's disease, both incurable and potentially serious diseases collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease.

Remission rate

In many of the volunteers the symptoms of IBD,¬ such as abdominal pain, bleeding and diarrhoea, disappeared. The remission rate was 50 per cent for ulcerative colitis and 70 per cent for Crohn's, says gastroenterologist Joel Weinstock of the University of Iowa, who devised the treatment.

"A lot of researchers couldn't believe this treatment was effective, but people are always sceptical when confronted with new ideas," Weinstock says. He will announce the results in May at a conference in New Orleans, and full details will soon be published. "With our new impressive results, we can come out of the closet," he says.

The trials follow the success of a pilot study, revealed by New Scientist in 1999. Weinstock came up with the idea of using worms to treat IBD after noticing that the sharp rise in the disease over the past 50 years in western countries coincided with a fall in infections by parasites such as roundworms and human whipworms. IBD is still rare in developing countries where parasitic infections remain common.

Weinstock's theory is that our immune systems have evolved to cope with the presence of such parasites, and can become overactive without them.

Frank van Kolfschooten

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[Jeff Chandler]

ping

[TBall]

This is great news!!!!

[gov_bean_ counter]

I didn't know Martin Luther had bowel disease.

[speedy]

My tapeworm is doing cartwheels since he heard the news. I remember studying the Diet of Worms in European history class. Somewhere around the same time you learn about the flying buttress, which come to think of it strangely reminds me of Hillary. And that brings us back to worms. Bon apetit!!

[ClearCase_guy]

Actually, I believe he suffered from chronic constipation. His writing are extremly scatological. I'm serious.

But that's a funny coincidence and nothing more, of course.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Freepers are pretty sharp. Probably won't have to explain this one like we would over at DU.

[Jeff Chandler]

I posted this without even seeing the humor in the title!

A sense of humor is a wonderful tonic.

[Spunky]

Regular doses of worms really do rid people of inflammatory bowel disease.

Then the contestants on Fear Factor have no reason to complain.

YUMMY! YUMMY!

[mikrofon]

LOL

You guys are indeed sharp -- less than 10 posts & 3 minutes in!

[Tanniker Smith]

around the same time you learn about the flying buttress

Well, if you had bowel disease, you're buttress would be flying, too!

TS

[fat city]

Isn't this what they tell fish?

[Threepwood]

Cute pun. Seriously though, is the New Scientist a credible source? A friend of mine has this problem and it's a cast iron b*tch. I'd like to be able to give him some hope.

[garjog]

Maybe Teresa should feed John some of these to reduce his Lurch symptoms.

[Piranha]

A sense of humor is a wonderful tonic.

But apparently not as good as a diet of worms.

[speedy]

"Well, if you had bowel disease, you're buttress would be flying, too!"

Nice line, Tanniker. As they say in the worm biz, take a bowel.

[Old Professer]

Could be worse; what happens when we realize that it is indeed turtles all the way down?

[Jeff Chandler]

These are the results of research being conducted at the University of Iowa.

It sounds very promising, as are several other new treatments.

[dvan]

So that is what the "Diet of Worms" was about? LOL!!!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

A Diet of Worms can also cure a great many other things as well. Just ask Martin Luther.