This is gross
My friend Jon sent me this link to the (perhaps a tall and certainly incredibly gross) tale of a man who cured his serious adult-onset asthma by contracting Hookworm in Cameroon. He did this mainly by walking barefoot through public latreens.
His theory goes that in the western world asthma and other auto-immune system diseases (such as Crohn's -- thus my interest in this article) are becoming increasingly prevelant because we are increasingly avoiding the dirty world. Our immune systems, built up over tens of thousands of years to deal with the worst nature can throw at us, are now bored and so take to picking on healthy tissue rather than just going on vacation.
Hookworms, in order to avoid being destroyed by the body, produce a compound that suppresses the immune system's response (by sending it a free all-expense paid ticket to the destination of its choice, perhaps?). And lo, the symptoms of the auto-immune disease go away... Hookworm's die off and do not breed in the body so the benefits of this treatment are dependent on a continuing vector for hookworm infection.
While I salute this man's gung-ho attitude, and I appreciate the desperation that led him to this course of action, I must say that I most certainly do not want this hookworm treatment. It's really just gross.
There's a couple articles on the BBC: here's a pretty old one, and here's one that's even older. (The BBC sure loves it's close-up pictures of hookworm.) And here's a pretty recent reference in The Observer. Note how none of these articles understands (or even discusses) the mechanism hookworm uses to suppress the immune system. As they say in Legend of Zelda, It's a mystery to everyone.
7 comments:
Hmm, sounds good to me. What medical treatments aren't gross? And it makes sense that having something like hookworm might distract an auto-immune disease. Are you sure this is just too gross to try?
Anyway, you don't need to go to Cameroon to get hookworm. All you gotta do is walk around barefoot in a stable, as far as I know.
I just ordered oatmeal at our new coffee shop for the last time.
as someone who shares an apartment with you, i would like to go ahead and second your veto of the hookworm cure. i don't care if he claims that they can't spread unless you contact them in the perfect conditions blah blah blah...the point is, ichhhhhhhh.
oops i didn't mean that to be anonymous. then again, it was probably pretty obvious from the comment who it was. i think: )
I think the real moral of this story is don't go to the Third World, a lesson I am sure we all already knew.
I really think the part where the hookworms crawl up your windpipe (causing two hours of uncontrollable coughing) and then make you vomit so that they can get into your stomach... that was the part where I decided that it was way too gross to try.
Besides, the wonders of modern medicine seem to have gotten my crohn's under control.
I attribute all this to American Cultural Imperialism!
By the way, CBAM doesn't have to travel to the Third World 'cause she can get cheap massages in southern Florida.
YSA really needs to let go of the bitterness she feels towards me. It's prematurely ageing her. Whereas I, on the other hand, was recently told by a checkout girl at the Stop n Shop that I looked 19.
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