Would you like some worms with that?

Bearing in mind that "the plural of anecdote is not data", CBS has a report on a couple of Crohn's patients who attribute their reduced symptoms to self-administered hookworms. As it is not an approved therapy in the US it is quite an adventure to obtain.

Aglietti, who calls himself a gastrointestinal ecologist, takes clients across the border where he gives them a band aid to put on their arm.

On the gauze on the band aid, there is hookworm larvae.

Scots said he experienced some itching where the band aid was, which he understood, was the larvae making their way into the blood stream.

What happens next is the hookworms then travel from the blood stream into the lungs, where once there, causes the patient to naturally cough. Patients then cough the microscopic helminthes up into the throat, then swallow them, and this is how hookworms get to the intestines, where they latch on, and they begin to mature.

There are few ongoing studies into the use of hookworms to treat Crohn's. If it was shown to be successful then scientists would try to isolate the mechanism of its action. This should lead to a safer treatment using controlled medications, rather than live animals. I'm sure that would be much easier to swallow for many people.