Got Worms?

[Guest guest]

I came across the article below while looking for other information.

Not saying I know enough to believe one way or the other, but it is a strong

contrast to those who say worms are a real danger. Food for thought.

From what I learned in biology many years ago, there is a real fuzzy area

between parisitism & symbiosis. As the parasites want the host (that's us)

to prosper, it is not suprising to me that they may indeed confer some sort

of advantage, as well as draining us for their nutrition.

 

Alobar

 

 

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NOW THE DOCTORS SAY PARASITIC WORMS ARE GOOD FOR YOU

DATE: June 08, 2001

ROBIN MCKIE SCIENCE EDITOR

 

PARASITES are good for you. British scientists have found that these

unwelcome intestinal residents can provide protection against serious immune

disorders.

 

The discovery - made by Cambridge researchers - raises the prospect of

making drugs that could block the development of such diseases.

 

The group has already cre ated a parasite extract which could prevent

animals from getting diabetes. Now they are working on a similar drug for

humans.

 

" We don't expect people to go around picking up parasite infections, " said

Professor Anne Cooke, of the university's pathology department. 'However, we

hope to develop an extract that could trick the body into thinking it has

been infested, thus setting off a reaction that prevents the onset of

diabetes.' The parasite-diabetes link was uncovered following work by

Cooke's colleague, Dr David Dunne, who has studied parasite infection levels

in Africa. Most people there show evidence of past or present infestations,

particularly of schistosomiasis, the cause of the fatal illness bilharzia.

By contrast, Dunne noted Africans suffer only low levels of auto-immune

disorders.

 

Such diseases - which include diabetes, multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid

arthritis - occur when the body's own defences attack its organs and tissue.

For instance, diabetes is caused when the pancreas's insulin-secreting cells

are destroyed by a person's defence cells.

 

" Essentially, in the West, the incidence of parasites in humans is low while

the occurrence of auto-immune diseases - especially diabetes - is high and

rising, " said Dunne. " In other words, the position is the reverse of that in

Africa. "

 

These contrasting patterns might have been dismissed as being a coincidence,

were it not for the link uncovered by the Cambridge team. They and other

groups have shown that diabetes is usually triggered by special immune cells

called TH1 cells. By contrast, parasite infections usually initiate a

different group called TH2 cells.

 

" The crucial point is that if you have high levels of one of these groups,

say TH2, you tend to have low levels of the other, TH1. In other words, if

you react to a parasite, you release lots of TH2, and this inhibits the

amount of TH1 that your body makes. This in turn reduces the likelihood of

you triggering an auto-immune disease, " said Dunne.

 

In the developed nations, human parasites have largely been eradicated.

Occasionally, cases of tapeworm in adults and pinworm in children are

diagnosed but in general the West is free of such infestations. As a result,

our bodies do not make so much TH2, and so its TH1 counterpart is not

suppressed. The result has been rises in auto-immune diseases, say the

Cambridge researchers.

 

" This knowledge gives us a handle for controlling auto-immune disease - by

tricking the body into thinking it is under parasite attack - which is

exactly what we did with the extract we isolated from schistosomiasis, " said

Cooke.

 

" We gave it to a strain of mice that are genetically prone to develop

diabetes. Each of them has an 80 per cent chance of contracting the disease.

But when we injected them with the extract, none of them succumbed. It was

amazingly effective. "

 

The discovery has raised hopes that it may soon be possible to develop a

similar drug for humans. 'We envisage that it would be given to people who

are prone to diabetes, said Prof Cooke. 'However, as these extracts do not

have any apparent side-effects, it could simply be taken like a vitamin

pill.

 

" In addition, we are also testing to see if these extracts can prevent other

auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. We are very hopeful. "

 

The Cambridge research effort has so far concentrated on developing parasite

extracts to prevent auto-immune disorders, in particular diabetes. However,

other researchers believe it may also be possible to counter allergies this

way.

 

Asthma, hay fever and other ailments have all risen just as human worm

infestations in the developing world have declined, and they also display

contrasting patterns of TH1-TH2 levels.

 

This has led to hopes of developing similar drugs to limit the onset of

allergies, and also triggered one worker - Prof Koichiro Fujita of Tokyo

Medical and Dental University - to take the ultimate in hay fever cures.

 

In a bid to stop his persistent seasonal sneezes, he now takes tapeworm eggs

and currently hosts three of these unpleasant boarders. They have, he

claims, cleared up his hay fever. Not surprisingly, they have also helped

him to lose weight.

 

http://www.diabetesnews.com/archive.html

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/1/02 09:28:32 GMT Standard Time, alobar

writes:

 

Thanks for this article, I have put it into my awaiting reading folder as I

know that it is something that I need to read but just don't have the time at

this very moment.

Marianne

> I came across the article below while