Will worms help us with allergies?

Having worms in your body: This doesn’t sound like something you should want. However, there are researchers who believe that quirky animals can actually improve our health.

In the year 2020, someone deliberately infected themselves with a parasitic worm by sticking some larvae to their forearm with a bandage and waiting for them to enter on their own. The larvae then find their way into his abdomen, where they can grow into worms about one centimeter long.

Why did this researcher from James Cook University get infected? Worms are hard to breed in the lab, so he was able to provide a nice batch on his own. Given the 20,000 eggs he picks up from the toilet every day – no joke – the project is going just fine.

The researcher, who is now one of two billion infected people worldwide, believes that the infection itself could have benefits. Mild infection with roundworms can help treat all kinds of allergies and immune diseases, due to the substances they release into the body.

Scientists are not yet sure exactly how this should work, but it is being seriously considered. The researcher who introduced himself to the roundworm would certainly not be wrong. He contributed his worm.

read more World: The return of the worms.