Louisville Process Theology Network

When to Interact with Parasites

Biologist Rob Dunn believes that there are unintended
consequences in our increasing separation from the other species. We have lived
around and with other life forms throughout human existence and evolved as we
interacted with them. “What happens when humans leave behind the species their
bodies evolved to interact with, whether they be cheetahs, diseases, honeybees,
or giant sucking worms?” Dunn wants to know.

On the positive side, we have eradicated many of the diseases
that killed our ancestors early in life. We use antibodies to keep bacteria from
harming us. We live twice long and longer today, as a result.

But, Dunn worries that many characteristics of our human
bodies have “become anachronistic or worse.” because of our separation from
other life forms.

For example, he points out that Crohn’s disease (an
inflammation of the bowels) and other auto- immune disorders appear to be most
common in countries where public health is high-tech and advanced. Intestinal
parasites such as hookworms and tapeworms are extremely rare in these areas.

So, Dunn wonders whether the absence of parasites is leaving
us more vulnerable to disorders of the immune system.

Medical research into that hypothesis, he explains, was first
conducted in 1999. Patients with Crohn’s were asked to infect themselves with
parasites, and months later, turned out free of that disease’s symptoms. Dunn
seems confident that continued research is worth the risks.

Consider also the circuitry of our human brains. As Dunn
explains, the disappearance of so many of the animals that once preyed on us
leaves us with outdated fear impulses. That would explain why so many humans
still suffer from stress and anxiety disorders in todays’ relatively safe
environment.

What Dunn wants us to do is to scale down our ever popular
use of antibiotics and begin to study the possible benefits of re-introducing
some parasites back into bodies. He also suggests the establishment of urban
farms; which could help us bring animals and plants back into our lives.

“The Wild Life of Our Bodies” by Rob Dunn