An Unexpected Source of Relief for Multiple Sclerosis?

Robert W. Griffith, MD

In January this year the Annals of Neurology carried an article reporting an interesting approach to treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). Argentinean researchers conducted a small study to try to determine if parasitic worm infections conferred any benefits on MS sufferers.

Twelve MS patients who also had eosinophilia (increased red-staining white blood cells in the blood, suggestive of a parasitic infection) volunteered; all 12 had positive stool specimens, containing dwarf tapeworms, roundworms, threadworms, or pinworms. These patients were compared with 12 matched uninfected MS patients.

In both groups, specific blood cells (mononuclears) were evaluated for their production indicating inflammation and T-cell regulation during the 4.5 years of the study.

The MS patients with worm infections had a total of three relapses, with 9 of the 12 showing no relapses. The 12 non-infected patients, however, had a total of 56 relapses amongst 10 of them. Six of the infected patients had new enlarging MS lesions on MRI (6 had no such lesions), while all the uninfected patients had new lesions (164 lesion in toto). Finally, the infected patients had higher levels of supressor substances (cytokines) compared with the non-infected patients.

This study shows that parasitic infections produce substances causing immunomodulatory effects that dampen the autoimmune MS process. The effect may be similar to the "hygiene hypothesis" of allergy and asthma, which accounts for higher frequencies of these conditions in people living in the hygienic conditions that prevail in developed countries; when they are exposed to allergens, they mount an overzealous attack, i.e. an allergic response or asthma. An interesting explanation of an important phenomenon.

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