Helminthic therapy, or less accurately worm therapy, is an idea derived from the hygiene hypothesis. It is impossible to understand helminthic therapy without first understanding the hygiene hypothesis. What the hygiene hypothesis tells us is that a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious agents and parasites increases susceptibility to allergic diseases by preventing the natural modulation of immune system development by those same infectious organisms and parasites. For a complete discussion on the hygiene hypothesis go here, or to the Wikipedia entry which in this case is not as complete.

We intend to make this site the definitive one for information and resources regarding helminthic therapy.

We want to make information regarding helminthic therapy more accessible by aggregating what is available in one place. There is no comprehensive and single source regarding helminthic therapy currently available.

Although a great open-source repository for this kind of endeavor already exists in Wikipedia we wanted to be able to collect and cite sources of information not allowed on that platform. We also wanted to broaden the scope of the topic beyond the encyclopedic approach required by the editorial community and traditions of Wikipedia.

There is a large and growing body of research and anecdotal experience that supports the use of helminths to cure disease, or that indicates that helminthic therapy can be used to cure disease. Although the concept is often found repugnant and the science complex and incomplete, for those with diseases that involve chronic inflammation or autoimmunity, helminthic therapy offers great hope. Particularly since modern medicine provides so few satisfactory treatment options.

This is particularly true given its apparent safety and efficacy when compared to modern drugs. If for instance one regards hookworm or TSO as a drug, or more correctly a drug delivery system, it is one that has been in use by humans and their genetic ancestors for millions of years. Our good fortune, which does not prevail for the modern drugs like humira, tsybari and prednisone, is that those who suffered from severe side effects from hookworm or TSO infection all died long ago, taking the genes responsible with them.

Besides, the downside to trying and failing with helminthic therapy is solely financial. Given the very promising if early science this is a much lesser risk than to continue to use modern therapies that science has clearly demonstrated are potentially lethal, are likely less effective, and which cause worse side effects for a greater proportion of patients.

The site includes various sections to help you learn about helminthic therapy including as complete a catalog of the current science as is possible, links to other sites, a list of providers and a new section.

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