How to cure your Asthma or hay-fever using hookworm.

How to cure your Asthma or hay-fever using hookworm.(kuro5hin.org)

19 points by bpick 16 years ago | 24 comments

minouye 16 years ago |

"I became infested almost immediately, it must have been either the first or second day I spent walking barefoot through the latrines. When one thinks of it this was an enormous piece of luck"

Wow - what a glass half-full outlook :-)

Perceval 16 years ago |

The guy wrote a follow-up piece last year: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2009/3/16/3408/66053

nroach 16 years ago |

Ok, i'm thoroughly disgusted. How bad does your asthma have to be in order to resort to parasitic infection as a cure? I hate my hayfever, but you can count me out for this remedy.

rglullis 16 years ago | |

Not wishing you that, but I'd bet your disgust would disappear if your hay fever got worse to the point of keeping you out for a entire season.

It's all about one's perception of how bad it is. Think of fashion models that ingest similar parasites so they can lose weight. Having a parasite is bad? It's even worse to not have a job.

What about people that smoke in order to eat less? Can you think of a better example of choosing the lesser of two (perceived) evils?

DenisM 16 years ago | |

Are you also disgusted by idea of having large number bacteria living in your stomach? Because they're already there...

tel 16 years ago | |

My roommate doesn't think it's crazy. He's recently been doing better but has previously been the emergency room more than 20 times for asthma-related complications including full blown pneumonia and the conversion of the lower third of one lung to complete scar tissue.

It can become bad enough.

tokenadult 16 years ago |

Here's the Wikipedia link on the general subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helminthic_therapy

I don't have any of those diseases, so I've had no occasion to try it.

eli 16 years ago |

The "Parasites" episode of Radio Lab discusses the story of another person who did the same thing. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2009/09/25

dazmax 16 years ago | |

This was an excellent episode of a great show. Highly recommended listening.

duncanj 16 years ago |

There are a couple of factual errors in the story. The worms live in the small intestine. (Think about the name, Ancylostoma duodenale) The third-stage larva is infective, not the first or second.

Hookworm infestation causes anemia, lethargy, and malabsorption, so definitely use with caution. It is probably best to use some sort of defined protocol so that you have a small number of worms without the risk of massive infestation.

dilap 16 years ago |

I'd love to do this (I get super-bad hay fever), but dude's charging $3000 bucks, which seems pretty steep to pay for a disgusting worm with an uncertain outcome. Anyone know a cheaper source? (I was thinking a farm, but apparently the hookworms animals get and the hookworms humans get aren't the same.)

d4ft 16 years ago | |

I have a family member with colitis. In the US, there are treatments available that use hookworms and are regulated, and hopefully safer than the option described above. So before you going tramping off to some African open-air latrine (assuming you don't live in Africa already), I would ask a doctor specifically about helminthic therapy and see what s/he can do for you.

dilap 16 years ago | | |

Well, thanks for the advice -- but everyone says, "see a doctor!"

I just want the cheap, infect-yourself-with-worms,see-what-happens,-no-drs-required method.

(Haven't found previous visits to allergy doctors to be helpful. I'm sure there are helpful doctors out there, but how do you find them?)

pontifier 16 years ago | |

This is the most amazing thing I have ever heard. This man has found a way to effectively sell his own poop to others for $3000! He's a walking factory!

chipsy 16 years ago |

For a few years, I had some pretty severe hayfever in the early springtime, but this year there's been almost nothing. I attribute the difference to diet changes reducing the inflammatory reactions.

Of course, that's probably not enough for all sufferers.

volomike 16 years ago |

As someone with really bad asthma, who coughs constantly when speaking to clients and thankfully works from home and uses a mute during coughs on Skype, this study is fascinating and I hope something comes of it for a vaccine.

Mz 16 years ago |

I don't even want to read past the intro. I'll stick with cleaning up my diet and home environment and using alternative remedies to get better, thanks.

(No, I don't have asthma, though I was misdiagnosed with it at one point. I do have "atypical cystic fibrosis" and there is a lot of overlap in treatments between the two things.)

EDIT: Since I have been downvoted, let me clarify: I frequently get strong negative reactions on health discussion lists for the "extremes" to which I have gone to get well, extremes which freak out a lot of other people. To my mind, my choices have been pretty conservative compared to this. I don't keep my health situation a secret here but there is no real reason most folks here would have much context. <shrug>

Carry on.

rsheridan6 16 years ago | |

I'll venture a guess that most people have already tried that before they resort to infecting themselves with hookworm.

Mz 16 years ago | | |

I'll bet you back that very few people are willing to go as far as I have in that regard. I live without a car, I sleep on the floor, we wash clothes by hand (after having dismantled and trashed our washer and dryer) and dry them on a rack in front of a fan, cook a lot from scratch with specially selected and carefully researched ingredients, have been creating our own recipes to accommodate the need to cook with special ingredients, and own next to nothing, not even towels. I know thousands of people on some lists I belong to who have tried various diets and worked on cleaning up their homes/lifestyles. I am still considered a "freak" and my presence is barely tolerated (or sometimes not tolerated -- I've been thrown off a couple of lists).

Peace.