Date: 23.07.2014
CIFAR: Julius Lukeš
Intestinal parasites are ‘old friends,’ researchers argue
Intestinal parasites are ‘old friends,’ researchers argue.
Intestinal parasites such as tapeworms, hookworms and a protist called Blastocystis can be beneficial to human health, according to a new paper that argues we should rethink our views of organisms that live off the human body.
To prove the point, paper co-author Julius Lukeš even ingested three developmental stages of a large species of tapeworm called Diphyllobothrium latum. After more than a year with the tapeworms, which might have grown to be as long as four metres each by now, he says he feels fine.
