This guy infected himself with hookworms, because his allergies were so bad he was desperate. He subsequently started promoting the idea, and I think was even trying to distribute hookworms for awhile.

https://www.amazon.com/Epidemic-Absence-Understanding-Allerg...

Edit: I read a more recent article about the guy, and it said he subsequently backed off the idea after his allergies came back.

Auto-immune diseases and their link to gut bacteria is not new. The relationship between MS and gut bacteria alone goes back to at least 2006 [1].

To learn more about auto-immune diseases and gut bacteria, I highly recommend the book An Epidemic of Absence [2]. It's an impressively well researched book that doesn't skimp on the science.

I managed to get my eczema under control by learning about the relationship between gut, food, inflammation, and auto-immunity.

[1]: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=multiple+sclerosis+gut+...

[2]: https://www.amazon.com/Epidemic-Absence-Understanding-Allerg...

The article author's book on the topic: https://www.amazon.com/Epidemic-Absence-Understanding-Allerg...

See An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0061P2L5U

An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases: http://www.amazon.com/Epidemic-Absence-Understanding-Allergi...

Velasquez-Manoff on Autoimmune Disease, Parasites, and Complexity: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2014/03/velasquez-manof.htm...

There's a great book written about exactly this that I highly recommend:

http://www.amazon.com/Epidemic-Absence-Understanding-Allergi...

This is not surprising to me at all. Pathogenic bacteria linked to diseases such as Crohn's and IBS are only pathogenic if we get them later in life. When we get these bacteria in childhood, before the age of 7, they grow symbiotically with us and help ward off disease. Check out the book An Epidemic of Absence by Moises Valesquez-Manoff [1] if you guys want to learn more about this stuff. It's a fascinating account of a man who experiments with altering his gut biome to overcome Alopecia areata (total hair loss). The book is loaded with science and references a lot of other studies dealing with the gut biome.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Epidemic-Absence-Understanding-Allergi...

For those interested in recent research focusing on the interplay between bacteria and our immune systems, I recommend An Epidemic of Absence by Moises Velasquez-Manoff.

Podcast introduction from Chris Kresser: http://chriskresser.com/what-are-the-hidden-costs-of-modern-...

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1439199388?tag=chrikres-20&link_cod...

There's a flip side to this story. While it's true that rates of certain acute diseases have gone down since NYC has gotten cleaner, rates of chronic diseases such as asthma have gone up. There's a school of thought that thinks our modern city existence is too clean, and we're no longer exposed to "old friends" that keep asthma and other chronic illnesses at bay. Check out the book "An Epidemic of Absence" for more details: http://amzn.to/12Blhij. In ten years from now, we may be taking pills for "beneficial parasites" as we do now for beneficial bacteria.