After purposely infecting himself with a hook worm to treat asthma, Jasper Lawrence (left) went into business selling therapeutic parasites online. (Photo courtesy Jasper Lawrence of Autoimmune Therapies)This just freaks me out way to much.
I mean, I get it. I do.
But...
...eeeew!
This man is selling parasites to treat autoimmune disorders, and, apparently, some people are buying them. Below is the link to the article and some excerpts.
"Allergy desperation: I'll take a parasite, please" - from ABC News
- Jasper Lawrence so desperately wanted to be infected with a hookworm that he traveled to Africa and walked barefoot alongside open latrines (eew!) in Cameroon to get one.
- Within a few months, Lawrence said his asthma and allergy symptoms dissipated. He stopped prednisone. He started to exercise without worrying about an attack and, as a result, he said he lost 40 pounds.
- For $2,900, clients of Lawrence's company, Autoimmune Therapies, can swallow a dose of whipworm, or apply a Band-Aid of hookworms to penetrate the skin.
(I know what is like to be desperate for a treatment or cure, yet I don't think I could this. I would freak out, literally lose my mind. Parasites happen to be my No. 1 phobia in life--what I find most revolting in the universe, what I would go far to avoid. Some bugs are truly disgusting, and I don't mind snakes, spiders and rats. But when it comes parasites...worms...I just can't...OMG, I can't!)
- Aglietti treated himself with worms to reduce his psoriasis. He uses beef tapeworm, where Lawrence does not, and he will not sell worms to treat autism.
- Serious researchers at Tufts University in Boston, Cambridge University and others have explored the idea that humans evolved by building an immune system that was in an arms race of sorts with parasites.
(That makes sense. Without refrigeration, plumbing, and today's health, safety and hygiene standards, there's no way our ancestors, even 100 years ago, were parasite free. Try to find a native with allergies somewhere in a jungle where people live naked in the dirt.)
- Weinstock explained that just as humans create a functioning digestive system by populating their digestive system with bacteria, humans historically developed an immune designed to account for parasites in the body.
- But Kuhn pointed out that a parasite is a parasite, and can cause sickness.
- ...many believe the immune system does not develop to regulate properly in the absence of helminthes (parasitic worms).
A shower after this is a given, but I think I might need enema too.
Sources: ABC News
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And to think, some of us are cleansing parasites to improve our health.
ReplyDeleteExactly! Yet their explanation makes sense: these symbiotic relationships have been found throughout nature. According to some theories, people in industrialized societies are "too clean."
ReplyDeleteStill, just the thought of swallowing parasites or putting them on my skin...well...I find myself more willing to entertain the idea of disemboweling myself.