Darwin's Prophet: solenoid: Rhames: HELLO?!

Flying Spaghetti Monster believers here? The Decreasing amount of Pirates in the World and the Increase in Global Warming are not related to each other.

And neither is Worms helping Cure Asthma. Asthma is not a germ that the body can fight with its immune system.

I have very little biology experience, but having asthma myself, I say to you, Good Day Sir! I SAID Good day!

No, but it is not too far fetched to see a potentially causal link between a lack of valid threats to train the naive immune system and in increase in autoimmune diseases. In fact, it's believed that the immunoglobulin E that is responsible for some allergic conditions originally existed to deal with (now nearly non-existent) parasitic threats.

/The more you know
//Asthmatic and biologist

Its actually pretty well known that IgE (along with eosinophils and mast cells) is one of your bodies main defenses against helminth parasites. Also, as mentioned earlier its also central to allergic reactions, especially Type 1 hypersensitivity (which includes asthma). So I'm assuming the theory here is that its a way to regulate IgE. There was also some significant success in a small scale human trial with using nematode intestinal worms (pinworms, I think) to alleviate the symptoms of Crohn's disease and severe IBD. But since the pinworms are technically contagious the FDA put a stop to the study and now the research has moved into the veterinary field, working on dogs with IBD. And I completely agree with the "hygiene hypothesis." The best things you can do for your kid's health is get rid of the "antibiotic" soap and encourage them to go play in the dirt.

/biologist and vet student - so we have to learn about this stuff since our patients still get worms
//thankfully, not asthmatic