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Asked by lucy to Claire, Franco, Koi, Linda, Mark on 13 Jun 2016.
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Franco Falcone answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Lucy, great question.
The answer is maybe in some cases. There is one infection which has been almost completely eradicated (meaning that it almost doesn’t exist any more) it is called the Guinea worm, the scientific name is Dracunculus medinensis.
Some parasites will be easier to eradicate than others. For example, parasiutes that are only transmitted from human to human will be easier to eradicate (e.g. hookworms, Schistosoma mansoni) than parasites which can also exist in other animals. When parasites can live in other animals in addition to humans, it is called a reservoir. While it is possible in theory to treat all humans, it will be more difficult to treat all animals, particularly if these are wild animals.The other question is whether we really want to get rid of all parasites. This may come at a high cost, for example we could get more severe allergies, more autoimmune diseases etc. if we there are no parasites left in us. This is already happening in developed, industrial countries, where allergies have strongly increased in the recent past.
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Mark Booth answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Hi Lucy
Franco is right about the choice we have to make. Sometimes parasites might be useful – for example in helping people with allergies, or other diseases that include inflammation, but at other times they are very, very harmful. It may be that a few worms are good for you, but like everything else we should take them in moderation
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Arporn Wangwiwatsin answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Hi Lucy,
One of my lecturer said, “if we get rid of all the parasites, something very strange will happen”. I can’t be so sure what the strange things might be but as Mark and Franco pointed out, we are seeing more cases of allergies and immune diseases which is thought to be a results having less exposure to parasites.I also think we cannot really get rid the world of parasites. Being parasites is a life style that came about after a long time of evolution to get some benefit of a certain place on earth (that place might be inside or outside of animals or human bodies for examples. Even though we remove existing parasites, I’m pretty certain that a new kind of parasites will emerged. We cannot really control the nature I think, but we can surely learn to live with them 🙂
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Linda Anagu answered on 13 Jun 2016:
Lucy, we need parasite in the world to restore balance in the ecosystem. Getting rid of them would be a bad idea, but we certainly want to overcome any illness they can cause and not die in the process.
A friend of mine studying the effect of the body’s natural microbial colony on development of asthma, have pointed out that African’s have less asthma and other immune disorders because they are exposed to more parasites as young children. Parasite have long been though to ensure that the immunity of our bodies are well developed from a tender age and thus prevent the body from overacting in the presence of a little germ or foreing substance. This reaction can cause immune disorders like asthma.
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Claire Bourke answered on 13 Jun 2016:
I agree with the others, there are lots of issues to consider. An ideal scenario would be to eradicate the negative effects of parasites but harness their ‘good bits’. At the moment parasitic infections can be so common in developing countries that they are almost normal and this is something that we want to stop because parasitic diseases can limit people’s ability to thrive and reach their full potential. For example, the parasitic worms that I work with cab reduce brain development, damage the gut, bladder and liver, and potentially leave people more vulnerable to other infections – we definitely don’t want that.
As the other scientists point out however, parasites are part of the ecological balance that people, animals and the environment have evolved with. Removing them might upset this balance, one example being an increase in allergies because some parasitic worms dampen down allergic reactions and inflammation in the gut by affecting the immune system. There are many studies looking into how we might isolate molecules from live parasites so that we can use these good properties of worms without having to have a live infection. Other brave people, such as volunteers in a clinical trial that I worked on as part of my PhD, are willing to eat live parasites to see if they can cure their allergy, though I’m not sure everyone would be willing to do that! Would you?
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