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In developed countries, we've mostly eliminated freeloaders like parasitic worms from our guts. But we also have the highest rates of inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD—when the immune system mistakenly attacks intestinal cells and friendly gut bacteria.
在发达国家，人们体内吃白食的寄生虫几乎消失殆尽了。但我们感染上炎症性疾病（简称IBD）的概率仍然很高，因为免疫系统会错把肠道细胞和友好的肠道细菌当做攻击对象。
For years, docs suspected there might be a connection between IBD and our worm-free lifestyle. And a handful of studies have actually shown that infecting human patients with worms can reduce symptoms of the disease. But how?
多年来，医生们一直怀疑炎症性疾病的高发与人们远离寄生虫的生活方式有关。大量研究显示：病人体内感染上寄生虫能帮助缓解疾病的病征。但为什么呢？
To find out, researchers fed parasitic worm eggs to monkeys with chronic diarrhea and gut inflammation—similar to IBD. After infection, the monkeys' immune systems kicked into high gear, pumping out more mucus than usual to fight the worms. But that response also helped heal the monkeys' intestines—restoring healthy, diverse populations of gut bacteria and decreasing the diarrhea. Those results appear in the journal PLoS Pathogens.
为了找到答案，研究人员给患有腹泻和肠道炎症的猴子喂食寄生虫卵。猴子感染上寄生虫后，免疫系统高速运转，分泌出更多的粘液来对付寄生虫。然而这种反应也能帮助治疗猴子的炎症性疾病——使健康，多样化的肠道细菌得以恢复，并缓解腹泻的症状。这篇研究发表在《公共科学图书馆·病原体》期刊上。
The researchers already have FDA approval to study the worms in human subjects. Interested patients can go to clinicaltrials.gov to sign up—and hopefully worm their way out of intestinal distress.
在研究人体内的寄生虫方面已经获得了管理局审批。有兴趣的患者可以登陆网站 clinicaltrials.gov 进行注册。但愿肠道细菌能帮助患者早日康复。
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