A recent study has found that infection with a species of the roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides can increase fertility in women.
Researchers say indigenous women in Bolivia have had an extra two children as a result of becoming infected with the worm.
The BBC reports that he roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, alters their immune system to make it easier for them to become pregnant, and experts say this findings could lead to new fertility-enhancing drugs being developed.
The study, of 986 Tsimane women in Bolivia, found most couples there have nine children. And around 70 per cent of the population are believed to be infected with the parasitic roundworm.
“While Ascaris lumbricoides increased fertility, an infection with hookworm had the opposite effect, leading to women having three fewer children. The Tsimane look at us as poor because we only have one or two children. Their population growth rate is almost 4 percent, so every 17 years or so, they double their numbers,” Says Professor Michael Gurven, of University of California Santa Barbara. Prof Aaron Blackwell, one of the researchers, also from the University of California Santa Barbara, said the worms probably change a woman’s immune system so her body doesn’t reject the foetus.
He said using worms as a fertility treatment was an ‘intriguing possibility’, but warned more studies needed to be carried out before he could recommend trying this.
Contamination from parasitic worms are the most common infections worldwide and affect the poorest and most deprived communities, according to the WHO.
They are transmitted by eggs in human faeces, which in turn contaminate soil in areas where sanitation is poor.
The main species that infect people are the roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), the whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) and the hookworms (Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale).
Intestinal worms produce a wide range of symptoms including diarrhoea, abdominal pain, general malaise and weakness.
According to WHO Hookworms cause internal blood loss that result in anaemia (iron deficiency).Latest estimates indicate that more than 880 million children are in need of treatment for these parasites.
By: Ojoma Akor
Daily Trust News
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