Whipworms? A gross little...friend?

[f_else]

So everyone, just a question. I was reading about some research they were doing on whipworm trials in crohns patients and there seem to be some pretty positive results emerging. It seems that this tiny parasite which passes naturally through the body within a fortnight of ingestation actually seems to return the bowels to some normality, perhaps by creating a villain for our immune system to fight against, instead of it hurting healthy bowel.
So has anyone had a go at trying this sort of treatment? Anyone been in any trials? If so, were the results positive?

Cheers,
Fabs

 

[tmfjets07]

I read about the same thing in the Wall Street Journal the other day, and am also very curious about this route of treatment. There were some blogs online from the early 2000's about people trying this, but I have not found anything from too recently....

 

[rygon]

I thought the worms secrete a fluid that dampens down our immune system, thus stopping them from being attacked. This immnusupressant goes to help calm our crohns down as well. Looks very interesting anyway

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1774382/?tool=pmcentrez

 

[Mountaingem]

Eew, I was eating as I read this lol! Inneresting, can't wait to see how this goes...

 

[DanHerefordshire]

Anybody no where i can get my hands on some of these worms in the uk to try