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The three things that come to mind are A) it's extremely time-consuming and difficult to capture the mechanism for how organisms act in the middle of the human

The three things that come to mind are A) it's extremely time-consuming and difficult to capture the mechanism for how organisms act in the middle of the human body in the middle of their lifecycle when we're not even sure what we're looking for, so it's just not been found yet. B) it might just be safe and cost-effective enough to give people worms temporarily as a treatment instead for now. (I don't know if this is the case, but if they're doing it for a study, the risk profile can't be that bad...) C) even if we isolate whatever mechanism they have (and can synthesize it readily), it's still an immune modulator, so all the same caveats for steroid creams might apply at any significant dose.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
> even if we isolate whatever mechanism they have (and can synthesize it readily), it's still an immune modulator, so all the same caveats for steroid creams might apply at any significant dose. Sure, but it wouldn't be an infection you could spread to other people. It also wouldn't be an infection that could grow, of its own accord, to undesirable levels within you. That's a huge improvement.
- techdragon 6y ago
  I suspect any final form for a “live” treatment, would probably be a two part sort of thing. “Take worms/eggs day 1, day 2, 3 or 4 you take the anti worming drug to prevent the worms getting much of a foothold”
  - at_a_remove 6y ago
    The pig whipworm eggs used previously for this purpose can hatch in the human body but they cannot survive, so no foothold therapy is needed. Instead, they're just enough to attract the attention of a perhaps overly-excitable immune system.
    - thaumasiotes 6y ago
      > The pig whipworm eggs used previously for this purpose can hatch in the human body but they cannot survive If this became a routine treatment, it seems pretty likely that they'd start being able to survive.
      - war1025 6y ago
        That doesn't really follow. For something to evolve like that you need to re-introduce the mutated strains back to the source. If there is no re-introduction (which there wouldn't be, because the worms would be bred in an isolated environment and not the sewer system), then there isn't really anything to worry about. There is no selection pressure at the point where breeding and distribution occurs.
        high_density 6y ago
        even if the 'gradually-evolving' process isn't provided, isn't there some genetic chance? (be it really small -- like lottery?)
        war1025 6y ago
        The mutation would have to happen in the lab and not in the wild, since the pills would come from the lab. I imagine if such a thing did occur, they would just kill the batch they were breeding and start over from a known strain. (Not a microbiologist, so who knows though)
        thaumasiotes 6y ago
        Why would you need to reintroduce the mutated strains back to the source? They already have a plan for migrating from one host to another host; they don't need to migrate from their host back to a lab so their laboratory-bred eggs can be intentionally introduced into another host.
        war1025 6y ago

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> even if we isolate whatever mechanism they have (and can synthesize it readily), it's still an immune modulator, so all the same caveats for steroid creams might apply at any significant dose. Sure, but it wouldn't be an infection you could spread to other people. It also wouldn't be an infection that could grow, of its own accord, to undesirable levels within you. That's a huge improvement.

techdragon 6y ago
I suspect any final form for a “live” treatment, would probably be a two part sort of thing. “Take worms/eggs day 1, day 2, 3 or 4 you take the anti worming drug to prevent the worms getting much of a foothold”
- at_a_remove 6y ago
  The pig whipworm eggs used previously for this purpose can hatch in the human body but they cannot survive, so no foothold therapy is needed. Instead, they're just enough to attract the attention of a perhaps overly-excitable immune system.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    > The pig whipworm eggs used previously for this purpose can hatch in the human body but they cannot survive If this became a routine treatment, it seems pretty likely that they'd start being able to survive.
    - war1025 6y ago
      That doesn't really follow. For something to evolve like that you need to re-introduce the mutated strains back to the source. If there is no re-introduction (which there wouldn't be, because the worms would be bred in an isolated environment and not the sewer system), then there isn't really anything to worry about. There is no selection pressure at the point where breeding and distribution occurs.
      - high_density 6y ago
        even if the 'gradually-evolving' process isn't provided, isn't there some genetic chance? (be it really small -- like lottery?)
        war1025 6y ago
        The mutation would have to happen in the lab and not in the wild, since the pills would come from the lab. I imagine if such a thing did occur, they would just kill the batch they were breeding and start over from a known strain. (Not a microbiologist, so who knows though)
      - thaumasiotes 6y ago
        Why would you need to reintroduce the mutated strains back to the source? They already have a plan for migrating from one host to another host; they don't need to migrate from their host back to a lab so their laboratory-bred eggs can be intentionally introduced into another host.
        war1025 6y ago