A west coast man, with severe asthma, learned that asthma is almost unheard of in some regions of Africa. He claims that the reason for this is hook worms.
So, the man travel to Africa and walked around barefooted until he had contracted hookworms. Once he was infected, his asthma symptoms completely disappeared. Heres why.
Hookworms are found in animal dung. When someone steps in the dung with bare feet, these tiny worms penetrate the skin and enter into the blood stream. Once in the blood stream, they travel to the heart and then the lungs. From there they go up the trachea, into the mouth, down into the stomach and finally come to rest in the intestines where they feed on blood.
Now, the transition from the lungs to the mouth is critical to the survival of the hookworms. After all, if the lungs close up, they will be trapped and die. So to prevent this, they secrete a chemical that prevents asthma attacks.
Hookworms are not fatal to normal healthy human beings but asthma attacks can be. The only real side affects of the hookworms is slight anemia. So, given the benefit of the parasite, the west coast man has started marketing hookworms as a treatment for asthma.
Of course, while he doesn’t have FDA approval to use hookworms as a medical tool, there is nothing illegal about selling them. And, I am sure that when those with severe asthma hear about hookworms, business will take off.
I don’t know if this is something out of sci-fi or the dark ages.
