It’s the oldest trick on the book, literally. In 980, Persian physicians detailed how to use maggots to clean infected wounds. However, it wasn’t until recently that maggot therapy has taken off and gained greater acceptance by modern medicine. Maggots, leeches, and intestinal parasites might sound like medical problems, but they’re actually medical solutions as part of the growing field of biotherapy. Long story short, they use parasites instead of pills to treat a host of disorders. Not all parasites are good, but some actually prove to be beneficial.
“There’s always reluctance in any establishment to embrace change,” said Ronald Sherman, a former infectious disease specialist at the University of California- Irvine and an organizer of the International Conference on Biotherapy. “But once medical practitioners and therapists actually try the therapy, they are our biggest supporters.”
Among the upcoming therapies to be detailed at the conference in Los Angeles is helminthic therapy, which uses parasitic whipworms to treat autoimmune disorders like Crohn’s Disease. It sounds gross, but apparently the worms turn down the immune system just enough to quiet the disease and allow both parasite and host to have a better quality of life. You just have to come to terms with the fact you’re crawling with worms. Helminithic therapy pending approval in the United States.
Tags: weird science, unusual medical practices, parasites used as medicine, biotherapy, animals used as medicine, unusual health news, middle-ages therapy using parasites for medicine, leeches as medicine, weird treatments, parasites used to treat diseases, International Conference on Biotherapy, Los Angeles, California, Ronald Sherman, helminthic therapy
