RESEARCH - Worm eggs improve bowel disorder

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Worm eggs improve bowel disorder

Last Updated: 2005-04-15 15:48:34 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Ingesting the eggs of Trichuris suis, an

intestinal worm, appears to be a safe and effective treatment for active

ulcerative colitis, new research shows.

Ulcerative colitis is a common inflammatory disease of the colon that causes

bloody diarrhea and heightens the risk of colon cancer.

Treatment with parasitic worms or " helminths " seems to work by altering the

body's immune system, according to the report in the journal

Gastroenterology. Animal studies have shown helminth therapy to have a

beneficial effect on colon inflammation.

In an earlier study, Dr. V. Weinstock, from the University of Iowa in

Iowa City, and colleagues described the development of a helminth that

cannot multiply within the human body and has no harmful effects. A

suspension of the worm's eggs was given to six patients with bowel disease,

and it produced a temporary remission from their disease in all but one.

In the present study, the researchers assessed the outcomes of 54 patients

with active ulcerative colitis who were randomly selected to receive

Trichuris suis eggs or inactive " placebo " every 2 weeks for 12 weeks.

Forty-three percent of patients in the worm-egg group experienced a moderate

or major improvement in their disease compared with just 17 percent of

patients in the placebo group.

Only a few patients had complete resolution of their disease and the groups

were comparable in this regard.

No side effects or complications were seen in the patients who were given

the worm eggs, the investigators point out.

Still, not everyone is ready to jump on the worm bandwagon.

" While there are positive aspects to this trial, the number of patients

responding and the depth of the response are modest, " Dr. Lloyd Mayer, from

Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, notes in a related editorial. The question

still remains whether ingesting worm eggs or any other therapy can truly

alter the immune response of an adult patient, he adds.

SOURCE: Gastroenterology, April 2005.

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