If you had a debilitating disease in which mainstream medicine had failed you, would you be willing to infect yourself with your own tapeworm? Autoimmune diseases such as colitis and Crohn’s have increased profoundly in the U.S, but are less common in developing countries.
Weinstock, a gastroenterologist now at Tufts University has found that it may not be the parasites that are causing the problem but their absence! His thought is that the disappearance of parasites through things like improved sanitation may have left our immune systems unbalanced, increasing our vulnerability to different types of inflammatory disease.
Read about a network of patients trying to treat their autoimmune disease by infecting themselves with helminths (parasitic worms) with varying results. Can a whipworm help restore the mucus barrier in an infected gut? The underground is pushing its way above ground!
You can also listen here as I interview Dr. Sid Baker about his own helminth!