Posted by Hugh on September 22, 2015, at 0:50:08
Eating intestinal worms may be a possible treatment for depression and other neurological diseases, according to a group of Duke scientists.
Helminthic therapy is an effort to rebalance the immune system and address a variety of disorders by putting the helminth worms back into the human body. Although the Food and Drug Administration has not currently approved helminths as a treatment method, some people have begun to treat themselves using the organisms and have reported positive effects.
"The goal here at Duke is to get helminths approved by the FDA so we can begin clinical trials," Bilbo said. "The first target is depression because the condition is thought, at least for a significant subset of people, to involve the immune system having a pro-inflammatory signature, so the idea is, treat your gut and heal your brain."
These efforts have been prompted by reports from people who ingested commercially bought helminths to treat their own disorders, ranging from depression to allergies. Parker worked with Duke undergraduates to collect information about these self-treaters. The students interviewed providers, surveyed the web and sent out surveys.
"The effectiveness of the helminths is substantially better from whatever effect they were getting from pharmaceutical treatments and the side effects are much less. It's a pretty profound difference," Parker said.
In the long run, Parker hopes that helminths will become an inexpensive way of balancing immune function.
"In every aspect, it is much like a vitaminit is an important part of the ecosystem of our body that we cant live without," he said.
Complete article:
http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2015/09/duke-scientists-treat-depression-with-intestinal-worms
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