A scientist is Nottingham, Mr Pritchard believes that hookworms can prevent asthma and allegery and links the rise in asthma and allegery problems in the developed world to the use of clean water and deworming treatments. According to him, hookworms in the intestine, affect the immunity mechanisms and thus reduce the chances of having ashtma and allergy. He has a research project that will give people a limited dose of hookworm larvae and measure their immunity and the effect on asthma episodes.
In poor communities hookworms are responsible also for anaemia and malnutrition so even if he proves his point, how are we actually going to apply this?
It also reminds of a scene from a book called "She was called two hearts" about a white woman going through Australian outdoors with a group of aborigine people. In this scene she tells her feeling of dirt because of not taking baths and constant travelling in the dust. Once they encounter a swarm of small insects that surrounds them. She panics but then sees that the aborigine people are facing the flies calmly, letting them do what they wish and flies enter her ears, flutter inside and clean it and then come out and fly away.
So next time you are ready to kill a cockroach or a mosquito, think first, what its role can be in the nature?
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I am going to be away in Geneva for the rest of the week and I will be back with you on my return.
In the mean time here are some more God's creatures for you - from South Africa.
