Is the human-infecting parasitic worm
Helminths Ancylostoma duodenale,
Necator americanus the ‘American murderer’ or a therapeuticagent? Parasites are
prevalent in human body, there is tons of it and some of them help us survive.
How strange is that? Many research and studies, clinical data supports that
Helminths could provide protection against IBD. They regulate host’s immune
system by influencing both innate and adaptive immune reactions. Talking about
IBD, it is not a single ailment; it actually refers to numbers of disorders
that causes inflammation and often ulcers in the intestinal tract. Researchers have collected a significant amount of
information concerning the genetics, distribution, and contributing
environmental factors for IBD. It is even said that Overall, IBD is a disease
of white persons living in developed countries. It is because of better
sanitation conditions, high quality water and better medical standards. But the
question is – Doesn’t better hygienic circumstances diminish exposure to
infections and promote good health?
About 1 million Americans
have IBD, and 30,000 new cases are diagnosed each year; which clearly states
that people in developed countries are more susceptible to IBD and infections
than people in the developing countries because people in developing countries
are exposed to helminths, which render immune system less prone to allergic,
and immune responses.
Usually, IBD can be
diagnosed at any age, most often affects people between 15 and 35 years old but
has even been found in babies as young as 18 months old! And in the United
States, it is thought that as many as 100,000 kids younger than 18 years old
have IBD.
References:
The hygiene hypothesis supports the fact that IBD is more prevalent in high income societies with high standards of living. While this has been established according to research, it would be interesting if research was done in middle income developing societies with not so high or low a standard of living.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that IBD exists in low income societies with low standards of living but with isolated cases.The fact that the hygiene hypothesis supports the claim, may discount any form of research being done in these poor societies.
The scientific paper by Motomura et al, suggests the isolation of the antigens in these hookworms and then administering them to flared up sites in rats with IBD sounds like a better idea. But then again how feasible is it, and how many worms would have to be collected to extract the antigens, process them, market it and then sell it to the public. I wonder how far away from this strategy societies are from this method of helminthology antigen extraction and it's availability to society.
I think with this theory, we have to be very careful not to jump the gun and make the correlation means causation blunder. Like JJ said in class, carrying a lighter may be associated with a higher risk of lung cancer but it is a result of a secondary action associated with the lighter and not the lighter itself. There are so many differences between 1st world and 3rd world countries and to say that it is absolutely the increased exposure of certain parasites that protects individuals from IBD and that there isn't, for example, a component in first world conditions, like increased exposure to preservatives, that is actually responsible for increasing the risk in the first world. I think that looking at what additional exposures we have as well as looking as what exposures we don't have is essential to understanding the full story of IBD and other auto-immune conditions in our society and how they differ from other societies.
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