https://aeon.co/essays/gut-worms-were-on...are-a-cure
EXCERPT (William Parker): Did you ever wonder why one in six children has a mental health disorder? ... Did you ever wonder why 20 per cent of women, in the United States at least, have been diagnosed with depression after menopause, and why ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ has mysteriously emerged? Why should almost half of us be allergic to something? Why should more than four in every 10 children be on medication for a chronic condition? Why do more than one in 10 women have an autoimmune condition? When asking why we get sick, we take the first step in understanding the origins of disease. If we find the answer to that question, we become empowered to prevent disease.
Modern medicine does not often bother to ask why. We don’t talk very much about it in medical school or during our internships or in residency. [...] Modern medicine asks what and how: what conditions do you have, and how do we treat them? But we should be asking why ... If we don’t know why something happens, we can’t hope to stop it. We might or might not be able to pull drowning people out of the river, but we really should ask how these people got in the river in the first place. Where are the sinking boats that left these people stranded in the water?
[...] Our Western diet is certainly a factor. And our stressful lifestyle. But we and others are coming to a fascinating conclusion: intestinal worms are almost certainly involved. But it’s not the presence of the worms that is hurting us. To the contrary, the almost complete loss of intestinal worms in modern society is, surprisingly, a very significant problem. Intestinal worms, called ‘helminths’ [...were...] Labelled uniformly as disease-causing parasites by biologists, they have inspired fear and hate ... The Rockefeller Foundation, for example, was originally formed to eliminate hookworm from the southern US. Their genocidal campaign was very successful ... This fearsome menace has been virtually eradicated in the US and in western Europe...
But what if we erred? What if our bias against a handful of helminths led us to slaughter billions of innocent and even helpful worms? Indeed, my research and the research of many others tell us that helminths are necessary for our health. A barrage of scientific evidence points toward helminths as being important regulators of immune function. Because of this, our genocidal campaign against intestinal worms apparently has a very nasty backlash that nobody saw coming. But science moves very slowly. All helminths are still labelled as parasites in textbooks, despite the fact that we now know this to be incorrect.
I saw bias override observation earlier in my career, while working in the field of transplantation therapy. [...] The immune system was actually supporting rather than fighting off most of the bacteria in our body! This paradigm-shifting idea had far-reaching implications for the field of immunity. For example, the function of the vermiform (worm-like) appendix, that troublesome little structure in our gut, could now be seen clearly as a type of safe house for beneficial bacteria.
The vermiform appendix had long puzzled scientific legends [...] it was an honour to be at the leading edge of science when the answer presented itself. The thrill of discovery was initially great, and lab experiments designed to test the new paradigm worked beautifully. But repeated rejections by scientific journals and funding agencies along with sarcastic critiques from anonymous reviewers were the norm for the lab during those early years. Fortunately, the paradigm shift made perfect sense to scientists working on the microbial ecology of the gut, and support from that field eventually overcame bias in the field of immunology. We’ll never know how long the paradigm shift in immunology would have taken if it weren’t for the microbial ecologists researching the microbiome.
Now I’m seeing history repeat itself as we attempt to overcome bias against intestinal worms with scientific experiments and observation. With the function of the vermiform appendix, there honestly wasn’t much at stake other than a battle for intellectual territory. Unfortunately, this new battle has more at stake, with tens of millions suffering from diseases that appear to be related to our loss of helminths. But there is hope. Once again, biologists with expertise in the organisation of ecosystems are on our side.
[...] During the study period [...] as long as patients kept their worms, their autoimmune disease did not progress. But if they lost their worms, their disease returned. Importantly, it did not seem to matter which intestinal worm the patients had. Some patients had flatworms, while others had roundworms, two very different types of worms, both apparently having the same benefits. My own research has shown that thousands of humans are now using intestinal worms, from a variety of sources, to effectively treat a wide range of allergic, autoimmune and digestive diseases. Based on previous studies, we were not surprised that people were having success. But we did find one puzzler: people and their doctors were reporting that helminths were helping to treat neuropsychiatric problems such as anxiety disorders and migraine headaches... (MORE - details)
RELATED: Woman undergoes brain tumor surgery, doctors find tapeworm instead
EXCERPT (William Parker): Did you ever wonder why one in six children has a mental health disorder? ... Did you ever wonder why 20 per cent of women, in the United States at least, have been diagnosed with depression after menopause, and why ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ has mysteriously emerged? Why should almost half of us be allergic to something? Why should more than four in every 10 children be on medication for a chronic condition? Why do more than one in 10 women have an autoimmune condition? When asking why we get sick, we take the first step in understanding the origins of disease. If we find the answer to that question, we become empowered to prevent disease.
Modern medicine does not often bother to ask why. We don’t talk very much about it in medical school or during our internships or in residency. [...] Modern medicine asks what and how: what conditions do you have, and how do we treat them? But we should be asking why ... If we don’t know why something happens, we can’t hope to stop it. We might or might not be able to pull drowning people out of the river, but we really should ask how these people got in the river in the first place. Where are the sinking boats that left these people stranded in the water?
[...] Our Western diet is certainly a factor. And our stressful lifestyle. But we and others are coming to a fascinating conclusion: intestinal worms are almost certainly involved. But it’s not the presence of the worms that is hurting us. To the contrary, the almost complete loss of intestinal worms in modern society is, surprisingly, a very significant problem. Intestinal worms, called ‘helminths’ [...were...] Labelled uniformly as disease-causing parasites by biologists, they have inspired fear and hate ... The Rockefeller Foundation, for example, was originally formed to eliminate hookworm from the southern US. Their genocidal campaign was very successful ... This fearsome menace has been virtually eradicated in the US and in western Europe...
But what if we erred? What if our bias against a handful of helminths led us to slaughter billions of innocent and even helpful worms? Indeed, my research and the research of many others tell us that helminths are necessary for our health. A barrage of scientific evidence points toward helminths as being important regulators of immune function. Because of this, our genocidal campaign against intestinal worms apparently has a very nasty backlash that nobody saw coming. But science moves very slowly. All helminths are still labelled as parasites in textbooks, despite the fact that we now know this to be incorrect.
I saw bias override observation earlier in my career, while working in the field of transplantation therapy. [...] The immune system was actually supporting rather than fighting off most of the bacteria in our body! This paradigm-shifting idea had far-reaching implications for the field of immunity. For example, the function of the vermiform (worm-like) appendix, that troublesome little structure in our gut, could now be seen clearly as a type of safe house for beneficial bacteria.
The vermiform appendix had long puzzled scientific legends [...] it was an honour to be at the leading edge of science when the answer presented itself. The thrill of discovery was initially great, and lab experiments designed to test the new paradigm worked beautifully. But repeated rejections by scientific journals and funding agencies along with sarcastic critiques from anonymous reviewers were the norm for the lab during those early years. Fortunately, the paradigm shift made perfect sense to scientists working on the microbial ecology of the gut, and support from that field eventually overcame bias in the field of immunology. We’ll never know how long the paradigm shift in immunology would have taken if it weren’t for the microbial ecologists researching the microbiome.
Now I’m seeing history repeat itself as we attempt to overcome bias against intestinal worms with scientific experiments and observation. With the function of the vermiform appendix, there honestly wasn’t much at stake other than a battle for intellectual territory. Unfortunately, this new battle has more at stake, with tens of millions suffering from diseases that appear to be related to our loss of helminths. But there is hope. Once again, biologists with expertise in the organisation of ecosystems are on our side.
[...] During the study period [...] as long as patients kept their worms, their autoimmune disease did not progress. But if they lost their worms, their disease returned. Importantly, it did not seem to matter which intestinal worm the patients had. Some patients had flatworms, while others had roundworms, two very different types of worms, both apparently having the same benefits. My own research has shown that thousands of humans are now using intestinal worms, from a variety of sources, to effectively treat a wide range of allergic, autoimmune and digestive diseases. Based on previous studies, we were not surprised that people were having success. But we did find one puzzler: people and their doctors were reporting that helminths were helping to treat neuropsychiatric problems such as anxiety disorders and migraine headaches... (MORE - details)
RELATED: Woman undergoes brain tumor surgery, doctors find tapeworm instead