Thank you for the update. I will follow up because I am upset that all the cousins, mud, pets, my mother’s awful housekeeping, and the pinworms did not save me from these awful allergies/allergic asthma, and I don’t want to blame the hygiene hypothesis just because of my own anecdotal issues.

Everything Mark Crislip said still stands. I agree with his assessment of MP and nothing has changed. I explained how complicated this is and how we don’t have any real answers yet for ANY therapies based on the hygiene hypothesis. Speculations about how any of this might relate to the hypotheses of MP and vitamin D are interesting to wonder about but essentially useless until the hypotheses are tested.

But yes; it is more complex than that. As well as the fat and sugar and the superclean environment compared with what we evolved in, also we live a lot longer, and thus have a greater chance of developing an autoimmune disorder at some point.

Harriet, for the “Click to enlarge,” you forgot to add the “MWAAAAAAAAA!”

The data have been shown that the diversity of the bacteria are also essential to induce a “protection” for the selfshoot of the immune system. As you said, this area of research is extremely complex and we a just starting to understanding the role between epigenetic on immunology. Maybe we should understand how our ancestor lived in order to prevent many common diseases of today.

Our body can cope with our new environment (after industrialization) up to a certain point. I mean that we can buffer some possible not know factor to our genes, but that has limites. Our body is not used to the giant amount of fat and sugar of today as well a super clean environment.

Maybe if kids just restart to playing with other kids on parks it could be enough… not body knows. I my case the boyscout was a great opportunity to play in the mud and have a real childhood

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/02/04/130204fa_fact_specter?currentPage=9

Having said that, I had pinworms (not sure what they really are) as a child–two or three times. My mother won’t talk about it because she is mortified about such things and doesn’t want to even think about them. We had to take some pills and have our bottoms inspected under a bright light! It was kind of embarrassing even at age six.

So here’s the anecdote: In spite of this, I am pretty much allergic to most of the animal and plant world–we always had a pet, and though I had only one sibling, I spent loads of time with dozens of cousins and played outside in mud and dirt a lot. My children and grandchildren are also plagued with allergies and autoimmune diseases, although some of this likely comes from the other side of the family in the case of the autoimmune diseases. But perhaps, pin worms just weren’t the right species??

I read somewhere that there is some criticism of the hygiene hypothesis and was looking for that in the post. I wonder if anyone knows more about that? The fact that something “makes sense” doesn’t cut it, as we all should know by now. Homeopathy “makes sense” to many people when they first hear of it. I’m not saying the hygiene hypothesis is equal to homeopathy, just that there might be problems with it.

Perhaps the problem with them is not always their biology because they use resources and ideas that are not particularly new or original, and draw some interesting (though hasty) conclusions. BUT they DO dangerously propose a treatment that is untested and has not been scrutinized for logical fallacies – of which there are MANY.

What do you think of the MP? Is it total fiction or is it just hasty action based on some real evidence? If fiction, why specifically?

I wonder what is causing the delay.

Back in November 2012, The Scientist posted this:

A growing body of evidence suggests that in some patients, increased inflammation contributes to autistic behaviors. Now, a Phase I clinical trial is under way to measure the effects of infecting autistic patients with a non-pathogenic parasitic worm. Scientists at Montefiore Medical Center at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and biotech company Coronado Biosciences will test the hypothesis that treating these patients with Trichuris suis, a non-pathogenic parasitic pig whipworm, will dampen their immune responses and ameliorate repetitive and irritable behaviors.

“The trial is a novel approach [to autism treatment] with a naturally occurring drug delivery system”—a parasitic worm, said Eric Hollander, a Montefiore psychiatrist and head scientist on the trial.

link to the listing in Clinical Trials.

Discussion of worm therapy by PalMD (Peter A. Lipson, behind the white coat).

As regards allergic reactions, I told a similar tale to a nurse friend of mine who works overseas and she said that there’s a bit of a balance in that early allergic reactions, while they may reduce the risk of asthma, may also result in insufficient oxygen uptake to the brain at an early age. It’s a possible point, although I’m a bit skeptical.

Here’s another link on the topic of worms and autoimmune intestinal issues, if anyone is interested.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=helminthic-therapy-mucus

My impression is that the responsible research being conducted uses parasites that can’t reproduce within humans. That seems like a very sensible approach, to me.

I have a family history of autoimmune diseases, as well as lifelong allergies to the general outdoors. Here’s hoping the Petri dish that is daycare has spared my children.

In all seriousness, I would rather just take a vitamin D tab verses experiment with worms to try to avoid some of those conditions!