Not infection with parasitic worms, but rather colonization with therapeutic helminths

Parker, William

doi:10.1016/j.imlet.2017.07.008

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 9 publications

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“…Key problems with garnering interest include policy and regulatory issues that greatly diminish commercial incentives for developing naturally occurring symbionts as a therapy [70,71]. In addition, the false bias that all helminths are harmful parasites tends to dissuade many from ever considering the idea [72]. Bias against helminths is understandable, but evidence suggests that considering all helminths to have the same effects on the human body would be the same as lumping salmonella and lactobacilli into a single group simply because they are both bacteria.…”

Section: Restoring the Biota: Where We Are Nowmentioning

confidence: 99%

Between a hygiene rock and a hygienic hard place

Parker

Sarafian

Broverman

et al. 2021

Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health

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Suboptimal understanding of concepts related to hygiene by the general public, clinicians, and researchers is a persistent problem in health and medicine. Although hygiene is necessary to slow or prevent deadly pandemics of infectious disease such as COVID-19, hygiene can have unwanted effects. In particular, some aspects of hygiene cause a loss of biodiversity from the human body, characterized by the almost complete removal of intestinal worms (helminths) and protists. Research spanning more than half a century documents that this loss of biodiversity results in an increased propensity for autoimmune disease, allergic disorders, probably neuropsychiatric problems, and adverse reactions to infectious agents. The differences in immune function between communities with and communities without helminths have become so pronounced that the reduced lethality of SARS-CoV-2 in low-income countries compared to high-income countries was predicted early in the COVID-19 pandemic. This prediction, based on the maladaptive immune responses observed in many cases of COVID-19 in high-income countries, is now supported by emerging data from low-income countries. Herein, hygiene is subdivided into components involving personal choice versus components instituted by community wide systems such as sewage treatment facilities and water treatment plants. The different effects of personal hygiene and systems hygiene are described, and appropriate measures to alleviate the adverse effects of hygiene without losing the benefits of hygiene are discussed. Finally, text boxes summarizing this information are provided to function as stand-alone, public-domain handouts with the goal of informing the public about hygiene and suggesting solutions for biomedical researchers and policy makers.

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Section: Restoring the Biota: Where We Are Nowmentioning

confidence: 99%