Treating with Parasitic Worm Eggs

Parasitic Worm Eggs Ease Intestinal Ills by Changing Gut Macrobiota

By Katherine Harmon | November 15, 2012 |  

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Image of Trichuris trichiura courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Delorieux for Johann Gottfried Bremser

Intestinal issues are not just for us humans. Whereas theinflammatory bowel disease(IBS) now afflicts some 1.4 million people in the U.S., a similar condition often besets captive monkeys. But these animals are providing new insights about a cure for this condition in both species—and that cure is worms.

Rhesus macaque monkeys living in captivity often develop chronic diarrhea similar to the human autoimmune condition ulcerative colitis. Vets are often unable to treat these ill monkeys, which can suffer from dangerous weight loss and dehydration. New research takes advantage of this trend and has found that after giving the monkeys parasitic whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) eggs, most of them greatly improved. The findings were published online November 15 in PLoS Pathogens.

“The idea for treating colitis with worms is not new,” P’ng Loke, an assistant professor of microbiology at New York University Langone Medical Center and co-author of the new paper, said in a prepared statement. In fact, small human trials have found that giving people pig whipworm eggs can reduce symptoms of IBS. And in developing countries where IBS is much less common, parasitic worms (helminth) are often endemic, perhaps conferring some benefit. But scientists have still been parsing out just why the presence of these worms might work so well./.../