Worm Eggs Improve Bowel Disorder

Ingesting the eggs of Trichuris suis, an intestinal worm, appears to be a safe and effective treatment for active ulcerative colitis, new research shows. Ulcerative colitis is a common inflammatory disease of the colon that causes bloody diarrhea and heightens the risk of colon cancer. Treatment with parasitic worms or "helminths" seems to work by altering the body's immune system, according to the report in the journal Gastroenterology. Animal studies have shown helminth therapy to have a beneficial effect on colon inflammation. In an earlier study, Dr. Joel V. Weinstock, from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and colleagues described the development of a helminth that cannot multiply within the human body and has no harmful effects. A suspension of the worm's eggs was given to six patients with bowel disease, and it produced a temporary remission from their disease in all but one.