In more developed countries such as the United States
we are not exposed to as many pathogens as other countries are. As a result, we
are "too clean" and now are diminished of certain parasites such as
the whipworms. We discussed this theory in class - the hygiene hypothesis.
Introducing these parasites back into our bodies is supposed to prevent our
immune system from attacking our own tissues.
We had talked about whipworm as a therapy for
fighting various autoimmune disorders especially Inflammatory Bowel Disease. I
wanted to know, how one could go about purchasing these eggs and what are
people really saying about them. It turns out that they are available for
purchase from Europe for $3,500 Euros or about $4,475 U.S. dollars (pretty
pricey).
Herbert Smith, a current victim of Crohn's disease,
ordered whipworm eggs in hope to send himself into remission. He drank 2,500
eggs every two weeks. He said, "There was nothing to it, it was drinking a
half of a cup of salty water". He further states that his symptoms had
decreased drastically, and that the inflammation of his intestine had decreased
as well. Unfortunately, Herbert had to stop self-treatment because of the expense.
There are also many clinical trials available today for
people who want to get the whipworm treatment and do not want to spend that
much money; the only downside is that you could be placed in the placebo group,
so some people rule this option out.
The whipwom seems like a miracle. What happens if you overdose on whipworm? The
most severe side effects include blood loss thus causing anemia. One good thing
is that they cannot reproduce in your body they can only lay their eggs on the outside (like your skin) and the eggs must remain undisturbed for eight days in order to develop properly. So the number you swallow during
treatment is the number that you have.
Lastly, a there was a point that was brought up during the
discussion that stood out to me. Can they be transferred from one person to another? The answer is
no. Since we practice good hygiene such as wearing shoes and having a good
irrigation system and because the whipworms can only reproduce outside of the
body, in ideal conditions, there is no chance that one could be accidentally infected. On the off
chance that you do become accidentally infected though, Mebendazole a three day
drug, removes the parasites.
Sources:
Wong M.D., Julieynn. "Drinking Pig Worms to Fight Crohn's Disease." ABC News. ABC News Network, 5
Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
Sept. 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
Dellerba, Michelle, and Jasper Lawrence. "Autoimmune Therapies FAQ." Autoimmune Therapies. 1 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"Hookworm." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10 Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
When I read this, you definitely answered a lot of the concerns. I am still curious as to if the worms could get anywhere outside of the gut and change the function there. I was also curious of how long they would stay alive in you if you did not take the Mebendazole.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the whipworms like to travel any where else, at least I didn't find anything regarding this. They like the guts environment. Additionally, the only "approved" whipworm is Trichuris suis - the pig whipworm, because their lifespan is shorter than other worms, with a life span of about 4 to 5 months. However, they start to lay eggs in about 3 months. The eggs are passed out through feces where they can then further develop. Although since inside the body is not an ideal place for the eggs to develop, they cannot grow in numbers.
DeleteAwesome, well still gross to me, but thanks for answering my questions and at least it is an option for some people.
DeleteAfter reading this, it seems that whipworms are indeed the way to go, disgusting or not! They're safe in controlled doses, don't reproduce in the environment that they are being administered, and can't be spread. I'd say that for an active organism treatment, that's as good as it gets. I enjoyed how you addressed all the possible negatives in your blog post and gave evidence based answers. For future studies, perhaps scientists could look into whether or not certain people have allergic reactions to whipworm. Essentially, the safety of this treatment still needs to be further studied.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of finding out if people are allergic to them, or if their bodies completely reject them. I also would like to know what happens when they are given to people with no allergies, autoimmune disorders or IBD.
DeleteThis post definitely made me rethink my thoughts on the ingesting of worms as a way to limit the effects of IBD. During the discussion in class I thought that I would never ever even consider ingesting worms by choice, but after reading this it doesn't seem so bad. Especially if they are just eggs and takes just like a cup of salty water. The side effects seem minimal in comparison to the relief of the symptoms of IBD. You also did a great job at making the process not sound so scary, unlike what the paper made it sound like.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about one thing, is the blood loss due to the eggs taking up some of our blood for their benefit? Or is that from the eggs damaging our digestive tract that is causing the loss of blood?
I think the process of drinking the eggs isn't really that bad, but its just the thought that will get to people, including myself. Additionally I was also pleased to find out you're drinking the eggs not the worms themselves. The bleeding is due to damage that the worms do to our digestive tract leading to blood loss through feces.
DeleteYour post regarding worms, as a possible treatment for IBD was interesting and enlightening, especially after the discussion we had in class pertaining to this treatment option for IBD. Your post definitely portrayed the option of ingesting worms to treat IBD in a positive light. During our discussion in class, I did not think that worms seemed like a practical and effective treatment choice for this disease. However after reading your post "half a glass of salty water" does not seem like a bad option to almost diminish the symptoms of the disease. I do have to wonder though if there are any adverse side effects to this treatment that were not mentioned in the case of Mr. Smith. I am skeptical because if this treatment drastically diminished the symptoms of his disease, it seems that whipworm treatment for IBD would be a more commonly used treatment. However we hardly ever hear about whipworm as being a treatment for irritable bowel disease. The treatment almost seems too good to be true
ReplyDeleteI am also curious if there are any restrictions on purchasing these worms, as it seems dangerous to allow anybody to be purchasing these worms.
I completely agree with you that the symptoms do not seem bad at all so why aren't we using this treatment regularly? I think the reason for this is just that we do not have all the information yet. Most studies pertaining to whipworm treatment are still ongoing so we most likely have not seen the side effects. Another reason could also be that since such few people have done this, and its mostly self-treatment, we only hear the good stuff not the bad. As for purchasing these worms, I just googled "I want to buy pig whipworms" and someones email and phone number that lives in the U.S. came up. I do not know if it is just a scam though. Otherwise, there is a site where you fill out a form and based upon approval they send you the worms from the U.K.
DeleteWow! I knew that it was possible to by the whipworms yourself, but I had no idea they were that expensive! However, since there is no cure for IBD, I guess people will pay whatever price to try and curve themselves.
ReplyDeleteI think it was a slight misinterpretation to say that the most severe side effect is anemia (I think that deserve a little more bold, underline, and even a capitalization). I don't think I would ever want to press my luck with becoming anemic...
However, with all of that being said, I think as said in our previous class session, that with more research it can become a plausible treatment for people with this disease.
In class I was completely against using worms as treatment, it seamed like some of the people that promoted this idea wanted to reintroduce something that has been removed because of our clean lifestyle and that thought just didn't sit right with me. (Also from a more shallow perspective I think I would really struggle with the idea of drinking worms.) You made such a compelling argument for everything we questioned in class such as price and reproduction; however, I wanted to look into some complications of ingested whipworms. I found that there are rarely complications until hundreds to thousands of whipworms are ingested, this was interesting considering Herber Smith self medicated with ( the man from the article) 2,500 every two weeks which would mean that he would classify to potentially develop GI and hemetologic complications. You mentioned that anemia is a potential complication which is pretty serious! It would be interesting to see what complications associated to the GI system would develop with these large quantities of whipworm ingested in IBD patients. This is a great topic to continue studying and your post made me a lot less skeptical of the procedure.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichuriasis
Wow this post was super interesting! Like a lot of the others who have commented, I was totally disgusted by the whipworm idea and would never consider it myself. It all seemed way too dangerous with the possibility that the worms would be reproducing while they are inhabiting your body. While I'm still put-off by the whole concept, after reading this post it seems like there is a little more validity to the whipworm treatment than I previously thought. With the fact that they can't reproduce while they are in the body, and that their lifespan is not long compared to some parasitic worms, it seems like more thought has been put into this being a viable treatment option than we previously discussed in class. I am glad that research is continuing on this topic, since more people suffering from IBD may be turning to these treatments after hearing other successful patient outcomes.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would still be very hesitant to ingest worms myself! Thanks for sharing the info!