--- David Hobby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Deborah Harrell wrote: > > > > Among the higher "Eeeuwwww!"-factor medical > treatments > > are the use of maggots to clean gangrenous wounds, >and leeches for therapeutic blood reduction; now comes > > the lowly pig whipworm for imflammatory bowel > > disease(IBD). > > Good link. For me, it is grosser than the other > two... > at least with maggots or leeches they eventually > LEAVE your body! > ---David > > It's not a parasite, it's a symbiote! : )
<grin> Well, in most cases the worm eggs have to be taken every three weeks to keep the disease in remission; they don't survive for very long in humans (but there *is* a human variety which can cause symptoms/disease, as well as a dog variety, etc.). This article goes into a little more detail about IBD, the pilot study and further trials. **Warning** Slightly gross picture: http://www.int-med.uiowa.edu/News/Worms07-02.htm This is a 'popular science column' overview of the "hygiene hypothesis:" http://www.edwardwillett.com/Columns/hygienehypothesis.htm I learned the human variety as 'Trichuria' and pronounced it like a whipcrack "tri-*KUR-i-a!" to help me remember that it was a whipworm...the lengths to which one must go to memorize stuff. :) (whipworm, pinworm, roundworm, tapeworm, liver fluke...I still recall most of the species names!) Debbi Thanks No Trill For Me Maru ;) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
