Helminthic therapy is the treatment of diseases via helminths, i.e. parasitic worms. Helminthic therapy is considered an immunotherapy that has been used to treat diseases like Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis & Celiac Disease as well as common allergies. It is also a possible treatment for IBS.

Why helminthic therapy works is not exactly known but the "Hygiene Hypothesis" appears to play a role. The Hygiene Hypothesis suggests that our environment may be too clean. By not being exposed to common pathogens or parasites at a young age our bodies may suffer from an immune system imbalance. It would appear that the human immune system & these parasites evolved together. The immune system would ramp up it's attack to try & get rid of the parasites, meanwhile the parasites evolved defenses & ways to calm the immune system down. The theory goes, if someone has an immune system that is ramped up without something to attack or calm it down, like these parasites, it may turn on itself & start attacking the body.

Currently helminthic therapy is not a generally accepted treatment. There is currently research being done on the benefits of helminthic therapy, but there is no easy way to obtain helminthic therapy outside of these research studies.

Alternative channels do exist. Jasper Lawrence is the founder of Autoimmune Therapies. After reading about helminthic therapy on the internet he decided to try it himself as a way to resolve his very severe nasal & sinus allergies. Having trouble getting any research institute or medical lab to provide him with the hook worms he decided to go to a village in Africa & infect himself. The hook worms were a resounding success for him, relieving his allergies entirely. He decided to setup a business around selling the hookworms to other people who he felt could benefit. Despite having precautions in place & hookworm infections being very treatable, the US Food & Drug Administration threatened to & eventually did shut him down. Facing the shutdown he decided to leave the USA & relocate his business so he could continue to sell the hookworms.You can hear him discuss his story on the NPR radio show Radio Lab.

If you're interested in obtaining hook worms from him keep in mind that hook worms cannot be sent to the USA, you must have a doctor who agrees to treat you if have a negative reaction to the hook worms & the treatment is expensive.