9 Disgusting Medical Treatments That Might Just Save Your Life

5. Hookworm Therapy

There's something funny going on in our modern society. As our water gets safer, our houses get cleaner and our food gets fresher, we're seeing an upswing in certain autoimmune diseases and allergies such as Crohn's Disease, ulcerative colitis, and inflammatory bowel disease.

Now there are those who think we could have taken our obsession with cleanliness too far, and that we actually need some of the dirt, grime and parasites to function properly. It makes sense if you think about it, we've evolved alongside these organisms for hundreds of thousands of years, so our bodies could well have adapted to their presence in such a way that, just like your microbiome, it doesn't work properly when they are taken away.

There is mounting evidence to suggest that introducing certain parasitic worms such as hookworm or whipworm into a person's system can reduce and even completely eliminate symptoms of colitis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, food allergies and even type 1 diabetes.