Posts filed under ‘Treatment’
Here piggy, piggy (parasites part 2)
So remember how I wrote recently about a new study to see if swallowing pig whipworm eggs would treat Crohn’s Disease? Well apparently this isn’t a new treatment- there is someone who has been swallowing these little critters for eight years already!
Herbert Smith, a 33-year-old Crohn’s patient, swallowed thousands of whipworm eggs suspended in a liquid solution over an eight year period. But after ingesting 2,500 of them in the first three months, most of his Crohn’s symptoms disappeared. Unbelievable!
Parasites to treat IBD?
I’ve read a few articles recently talking about various clinical trials using parasites and worms to treat IBD. In theory, it’s a really interesting idea- ingesting what would parasites that prevent the body from attacking itself.
Most recently, I read about a new clinical trial that is studying pig parasites as one course of treatment. In the trial, patients swallow the eggs of a pig parasite. Each egg contains thousands of microscopic parasite eggs, culled from pig feces, suspended in a tablespoon of saline solution to be swallowed. Sounds pretty gross right?
New treatment on the horizon
I keep seeing news stories about new treatments for Crohn’s Disease and I wanted to highlight one that I find really interesting.
When most people hear that someone has Crohn’s Disease, the immediate thought is that it’s a stomach ailment that makes you go to the bathroom a lot. What they don’t realize is that it is, in fact, an autoimmune disease. If you think about it, this makes sense- Crohn’s patients, or at least my Crohn’s patient, become sicker more easily than healthy patients.
Well, researchers in Seattle, WA are testing a new way to treat Crohn’s by essentially putting in a new immune system into the person with Crohn’s. Pretty cool right?
Caring for Crohn's & UC 