By Carolanne Wright
Contributing Writer for Wake Up World
“Lisa’s Crohn’s disease improved with whipworm. Hookworm sent Dan’s multiple sclerosis into remission, and likewise Josh’s psoriasis. A bad case of chiggers calmed Lawrence’s autistic outbursts, and whipworm infusions have improved him further still,” writes Abigail Zuger M.D. in the New York Times article, A Messy, Exuberant Case Against Being Too Clean.
No, this isn’t science gone horribly wrong. Researchers are beginning to suspect that our obsession in the West for cleanliness is actually backfiring and leading to a shocking spike in autoimmune disorders and other diseases — asthma, diabetes and food allergies, even cancer and heart disease, to name a few. In response, scientists are entertaining the idea of an unconventional approach to combating these illnesses: fecotherapy.
Is this the future of healthcare? The introduction of microbe-rich particles into the body (including parasites), which encourage an internal landscape similar to our distant ancestors, without the risk of potentially life-threatening illness? Moises Velasquez-Manoff, author of “An Epidemic of Absence,” believes we’re heading in that direction.
