Till now we know that parasites are only harmful...in this you will see benefits of parasites and how they can be used to treat various major disease by their routine activities which harms us.....

3.  Leeches are segmented worms
that belong to the
phylum Annelida and comprise
the subclass Hirudinea.
 Most leech species do not feed
on human blood, but instead
prey on small invertebrates,
which they eat whole.
 Once attached, leeches use a
combination of mucus and
suction to stay attached and
secrete
an anticoagulant enzyme,
HIRUDIN, into the hosts' blood
streams.

4. MEDICINAL USES OF LEECHES
 The European medical leech Hirudo medicinalis and some congeners, as
well as some other species, have been used for clinical bloodletting for
thousands of years in medicine to remove blood from patients.
 Many ancient civilizations practiced bloodletting, including Indian and
Greek civilizations.
 Leech therapy is explained in ancient Ayurvedic texts.
 Bloodletting using leeches was one method used by physicians to
balance the humors and to rid the body of the plethora.

5. Harmful Effects of BLOODLETTING
 Problematic venous congestion can arise due to inefficient venous
drainage.
 Sometimes, because of the technical difficulties in forming an
anastomosis of a vein, no attempt is made to reattach a venous
supply to a flap at all. This condition is known as venous
insufficiency. If this congestion is not cleared up quickly, the blood
will clot, arteries that bring the tissues their necessary nourishment
will become plugged, and the tissues will die.

7. An experimental type
of immunotherapy, is the
treatment
of autoimmune
diseases and immune
disorders by means of
deliberate infestation
with a helminth or with
the ova of a helminth.

8. “Helminthes (Hookworm- Necator americanus,
whipworms & threadworms), awake the regulatory
side of the immune system. This helps turn off immune
responses that aren’t needed,” said cell biologist Joel
Weinstock of Tufts University.
A model of the way helminths affect the T
cell response

9.  Early infections with parasites decreases your risk of
allergy or autoimmune disease, probably because the
parasites keep your immune system occupied.
If you live in an environment that is too sterile, your
immune system gets bored and starts attacking harmless
objects or even your own body.
 Worms are used to treat several inflammatory diseases
and autoimmune disorders such as Crohn's disease.

10. Involvement of innate and acquired immune responses in helminthes
antigen-mediated diabetes protection
To understand how helminthes and other infectious agents might affect
autoimmune disease and, in particular, to study how microbial molecules can
be used to induce tolerance and prevent autoimmunity

11. A DOSE OF parasitic whipworms cured
monkeys with chronic diarrhea, fixing
immune systems gone haywire and
offering a snapshot of what worms might
do for people.
 In 2009, a man of Unites States with
ulcerative colitis had treated himself by
swallowing the eggs of whipworms.

12. Potential Side Effects of Helminthic Therapy
 Fatigue
 Malnutrition
 Gastrointestinal discomfort
 Anemia
 Fever
 Abdominal pain
 Weight loss
 Anorexia
 Diarrhea
 General malaise
Primary Infections : Secondary Infections :
 Hepatomegaly
 Splenomegaly
 Inflammatory disease of CNS &
eye
 Anaphylaxis
 Severe Colitis

13. Tapeworm Weight Loss Program
 I’m sure you’re familiar with
the saying, “They’re always
hungry, they must have a
tapeworm or something.”
 Tapeworms have been
marketed as a weight-loss
product for over 100 years,
and despite the known health
risks, tapeworms continue to
be advertised and sold today.

14. Examples…
 In the 1950’s there was an
opera singer, Maria Callas,
that lost 62 pounds within
one year after allegedly
swallowing a tapeworm.
 The incident of 2014, at a
Florida hospital was that a
Mum spiked daughter with
TAPEWORMS to make her
lose weight for beauty
pageant

15.  At the Tokyo Medical and Dental
University, a professor Dr. Masahiro
Fujita, of environmental parasitology
actually hosted tapeworms in his own
body.
 He left them there for over five years &
He was quite proud and gave fame to
them keeping him nice and fit.
 He also believed that they were
responsible for curing his hay fever.
 He suggested that tapeworms may help
asthma sufferers and people with
obesity problems.

16. Tapeworm Diet Side Effects
• When the tapeworm diet is being promoted, then of
course the side effect of weight loss will be at the top of
the list.
• Some of the other potential side effects & symptoms of
the tapeworm diet:-
Abdominal pain
Weakness
Headache
Nausea
Diarrhea
Constipation
Bloating

17. A Sushi Parasite That Can Smell
Cancer: Can Roundworms Be Used As
A Diagnostic Tool?
The Caenorhabditis elegans is often found in raw fish, and is
able to detect cancer cells through smell.

18.  Japan researchers, in a 63-year-old man who had a certain type
of roundworm called Anisakis in his digestive system, found that
the parasites had attached themselves to a lesion in his stomach
that was an early sign of gastric cancer.
 It was the parasites’ sense of smell that helped them identify
the cancer, so the researchers placed droplets of culture
medium that contained cancer cells on one side of petri dishes,
and droplets of fresh culture medium on the other side.
 When they added the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans to
the petri dish, they found that the worms moved towards the
cancer cells.
 When the researchers removed olfactory sense neurons in
some of the worms, they didn’t move towards the cancer part
of the dish — meaning it was indeed their sense of smell.
 Such tests could simplify cancer screenings & lower the price of
examinations.

19. Roundworms Reveal Health
Benefits Of Omega Fatty Acids
New research on roundworms suggests that omega-6
fatty acids may trigger the body's natural way of recycling
faulty or worn-out cell components, a process thought to
be linked to human health and longevity and whose
absence may be involved in a number of diseases.

20. HOW…..????
 Feeding omega-6 fatty acids to Caenorhabditis
elegans roundworms or adding them to cultured human
cells activates autophagy, a natural, self-digestion form of
renewal by which cells break down and recycle their own
defective or worn-out components and molecules.

21. The nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, is helping
researchers unlock the secrets of Parkinson’s
Disease, polycystic kidney disease, and even
obesity.
Though they’re worms, their genetic makeup is
remarkably similar to ours, which makes them
very valuable in the search for the genetic basis
for various diseases.

22. CONCLUSION
Parasite in today’s world is a FOE. Nevertheless ; they
can be beneficial in treatment but we need to perform
more clinical studies and find out ways that could either
suppress or terminate the side effects that the parasites
have on our body. Also further studies should report
comparative data on the costs of parasitical treatment
versus conventional pharmacotherapy.