Worm Infections May Actually Help Your Gut By Treating Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

If you assumed that a worm infection may prove to be harmful to your health, you can think again. Experts find that it can prove to be good for the microbiome in your gut. Infection from worms may even work to be contrary to inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).

Experts gave worm eggs to monkeys in 2012 and found that they could really protect from the simian version of IBD. Such worm eggs could help to trick the immune system into thinking that it is infected by a worm infection. Hence, it triggers a worm-related response to counter gut inflammation.

In a new study, researchers fed between 10 and 15 parasitic whipworm eggs to mice that did not possess a gene called NOD2, which is linked to several immune disorders, including IBD.

Researchers measured the amount of Bacteroides and Clostridia in the mice's intestines and stools, noting the presence---or absence----of IBD too.

Experts found that most IBD symptoms disappeared along with almost all Bacteroides, even as the Clostridia levels increased. Intestinal bleeding and ulceration also disappeared.

"Our findings are among the first to link parasites and bacteria to the origin of IBD, supporting the hygiene hypothesis," said  P'ng Loke, study co-senior investigator, and associate professor at NYU Langone.

The findings change their viewpoints on the treatment of IBD. As worms can act on the gut bacteria that may lead to the disease, researchers may be able to detect how the worms lead to the reactions, so that they can also enable the countering of IBD.

The findings are published in the April 2016 edition of the journal Science.