Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, often grouped together under inflammatory bowel disease or IBD, are disorders of modern, industrialized
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, often grouped together under inflammatory bowel disease or IBD, are disorders of modern, industrialized nations with stringent standards of public hygiene.
Overzealous cleaning of the environment prevents the human immune system from interacting with worms, bacteria and other pathogens necessary for it to develop properly...Yes! Doctors at the University of Iowa are testing whether a treatment regimen of worms may help patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.The worm research represents perhaps the most extreme example of a field known as probiotics: the use of living organisms to treat diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and other organs.
Dr. Joel Weinstock and colleagues conducted a study wherein 20 to 30 patients were given a mixture of 1,500 eggs of the helminth or parasitic worm.
Most of the patients did so well on the therapy they were able to throw away their other drugs, including steroids, which can have serious side effects. The symptoms returned when the patients stopped drinking the mixture said Weinstock, professor of internal medicine.
The importance of contact with environmental organisms is supported by studies of mice specially bred to be germ-free, said Dr. Fergus Shanahan, of the National University of Ireland, Cork. Their gut movements are slower and the blood supply to that area differs from that seen in normal mice.
A recent study of 50 people who had undergone a colostomy, or removal of part of the colon, to treat severe ulcerative colitis. They developed infections in the remaining area of the colon.
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Shanahan predicted some day scientists would create organisms genetically engineered to produce vaccines and drugs to treat IBD and other diseases. Weinstock said even genetically engineered helminths are a possibility.
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