them intestinal worms may be good for ya

From Jill Nelson in World...

The prospect of intestinal worms setting up camp in our bodies can send any mother into a hand-washing, sterilizing frenzy. But one cutting-edge immunologist has what he believes is good news for panicked parents: "It's OK for kids to play in the dirt, and it's OK for kids to have dirty hands," Joel Weinstock said. "If they swallow a little dirt, it's not going to hurt them, and frankly, it might help them."

In fact, Weinstock believes helminths—or intestinal worms—may help equip our bodies to fight off immunological diseases such as hay fever, childhood diabetes, asthma, and multiple sclerosis. His theory earned him a spot among Esquire magazine's "Best and Brightest 2007" and has challenged the notion that parasites are always the bad guys.

Immunological diseases are a rarity in less developed countries, a reality that pointed Weinstock—the chief of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts-New England Medical Center—to the worms.

"What people don't realize is that having summer sniffles is a disease of industrialized countries. Most people in less developed countries don't get hay fever," Weinstock said. Developing countries such as India and China are experiencing drastic increases in these diseases as they adopt Western lifestyles, he added. "The light bulb went on, and I said, 'Well, it's possible that de-worming the population leaves them more vulnerable to immunological diseases.'"

The low rate of these diseases on Indian reservations in Canada also provides support for his theory: The reservations are one of the only places in the country that have a high rate of parasitic worms.

"There are some helminthes that are bad actors, and you're better off not having them," Weinstock told WORLD. "But what I would say is that most of them don't have much pathological potential. It could be that you're better off with them than without them."

Although he hesitates to issue a blanket condemnation of de-worming programs across the globe, he does note the necessity of being exposed to organisms. "If your gut was sterile, you would die," he cautions. "Half the weight of your stool is living organisms."

Weinstock's theory is currently being tested in laboratory trials, and he acknowledges that it's not a "slam dunk, absolute, we've got it." His hope is that his research will lead to better ways to treat and even prevent these diseases either through helminths or drugs made from these parasites.