MS — PERHAPS The "Experts" Got It Wrong
When the Cure Might Be the Cause: Rethinking Parasites and Autoimmune Disease What if the story we've been told about parasites and autoimmune disease is only half the picture? The research is genuinely fascinating. Studies have shown that people living in regions with higher rates of parasitic infections tend to have significantly lower rates of multiple sclerosis. A landmark study by Correale and Farez showed that patients with MS who naturally acquired helminth infections experienced dramatically fewer relapses. The working theory—often called the Hygiene Hypothesis —is that our increasingly sanitized modern world has left our immune systems without a familiar sparring partner, so they turn inward and attack us instead. It's a compelling argument. But here's where I find myself lingering. Because nobody seems to be asking a pretty obvious question about that geographic data. The regions most often cited for lower MS rates — parts of Latin America, s...