Research conducted in Norway, Estonia, South Africa, the United Kingdom and likely soon Spain is examining the connection between parasitic infections and allergies and asthma.

Professor Cecilie Svanes at the Centre for International Health at the University of Bergen (UiB), noted that German researchers have found antibodies suggesting that 10 to 20 percent of people participating in their studies have experienced parasitical infections.

The project is called Helminths and allergy in South Africa and Northern Europe. Helminths are parasitic worms.

Svanes believes that a closer inspection of parasites is relevant in the current global health environment.

“Parasites provide us with an opportunity to develop our immune system and may give us important answers as to how allergies develop. And this is precisely what we intend to study in the helminths research project,” Svanes said.

Source: Science Nordic