SILVER LINING

Some illnesses protect you against other diseases

This week: worms and inflammatory bowel diseases EMERGING research suggests parasites living in our intestines can help fight autoimmune conditions such as Crohn’s disease, where the immune system damages the lining of the gut.

To survive in our gut, most parasitic worms release proteins to dampen down immune responses, reducing symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease.

‘If worm infections turn on this response, you can argue that it’s the body trying to do the right thing and have a safely regulated response to parasites — or the parasites trying to subvert the immune system so they aren’t pushed out,’ says Daniel Altmann, a professor of immunology at Imperial College London. In a study by Nottingham University, 15 people were infected with hookworms and 15 were not. After six weeks, those with the worms had lower levels of chemicals associated with inflammatory responses. Research is underway to mimic the effect of worms as a treatment for bowel diseases.