The Worms Crawl In
Posted by Ted Hopton on July 1, 2008
Can hookworms protect against allergies? In a quest to find out, David Pritchard infected himself.
This article literally makes me queasy. The thought of worms working their way around inside my body makes me want to throw up and completely grosses me out. Yet I have suffered most of my life pretty badly from allergies. I take Claritin all year, and now that I have moved to a farm it appears there are more allergens here than that medicine can overcome. The sneezing fits every morning are getting tiresome.
So, as disgusted as I am at the thought of having hookworms, I still find myself truly intrigued by the possibility of significantly alleviating my allergic symptoms. Could I overcome my aversion? Would the benefits outweigh the yuck factor, not to mention the health risk of parasites?
I’ll think it over. Hard. I’m really not sure I could go there . . .
