NIAID wants to see if a parasite alleviates Ulcerative Colitis

Here’s something you don’t hear everyday… a parasite might be good for you!

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) just posted a clinical trial notice for assessing “Trichuris Suis Ova Treatment in Left-sided Ulcerative Colitis”

Here’s the little TSO medical assistant right here…

Now before you go AAAAAAAA NOT IN MY BODY YOU DON’T, the NIAID has the idea that introducing a tiny parasitic worm into a patient that suffers from Ulcerative Colitis will “distract the immune system so that it fights the worm rather than targeting the colon.”

The good news is that this parasite is a lightweight in the “invading alien” category and can be completely nuked with some basic meds.

The VERY good news is that Trichuris Suis Ova has already been found to have a “significant and long lasting improvements in active Crohn’s disease”, and this test is the first big step in making this treatment go mainstream.

Ulcerative Colitis, to use non-medical terms, sucks rocks. It’s a nasty “form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)… that includes characteristic ulcers, or open sores. The main symptom of active disease is usually constant diarrhea mixed with blood, of gradual onset.”

The clinical trial can be found on clinicaltrials.gov (part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health) and the trial will be active in…

  • California
  • Connecticut
  • Florida
  • Illinois
  • Iowa
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesota
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • Ohio
  • Pennsylvania
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Washington