Jun 19, 2009 7:44 pm US/Eastern
HealthWatch: Treating Allergies - With Infection
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
If you're suffering from seasonal allergies, you're not alone. Asthma and allergies are up, especially in developed countries.
Now, some sufferers are turning to a controversial new approach to treatment that involved some surprising creatures.
More Americans are suffering from allergies than ever, and experts are growing increasingly worried.
"There's a lot of concern that something that we're doing differently from the way humans did for a very long time, and it's causing this really dramatic increase in allergies," allergy specialist Dr. Homer Boushey says.
So what's different? Some point to the so-called "hygiene hypothesis:" that we've become too clean for our own good, and that confuses our immune systems.
"Being outdoors, and in the dirt, is a good thing," Dr. Boushey says.
Experts say that for proof, one need only look at the human body.
"You could describe us as MUNI buses for microbes," Dr. Boushey says. "There are more bacterial cells in us than there are 'us' cells in us."
With that in mind, some sufferers are going to extremes that many are calling disgusting.
"I got infected in the last week of January 2006," patient Jasper Lawrence says.
He's talking about becoming infected with hookworms. Lawrence says that, when traditional medicines failed to help him, he flew to Cameroon and walked barefoot across open-air latrines in order to get infected with hookworms.
"You get an itch at the site where they first enter the skin," Lawrence says.
But once home, he says, his allergies and asthma disappeared.
"The presence of hookworms could be associated with suppression of immune-allergic kind of responses," patient Todd Troutman says.
The 36-year-old Troutman also tried hookworms for his allergies and asthma.
"Completely cured," Troutman says.
Rigorous clinical trials on the safety and effectiveness of hookworm therapy have yet to be done.
"I'd like to see us figure out what part of the hookworm is responsible for this benefit," Dr. Boushey says.
There are risks to hookworm therapy, including severe anemia and sepsis. But Troutman says he'll never look back.
"I have absolutely no regrets at all," he says.
Hookworm therapy is not FDA-approved. In addition to anemia, hookworm infections have been linked to serious health problems such as growth retardation, impotence, and even heart failure.
It's important to consult with your doctor before attempting any alternative therapy.
Hookworm therapy is also being attempted for the treatment of autism, Crohn's Disease, and multiple sclerosis.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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