Helminthen-(Wurm-)Therapie bei allergischer Rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis, commonly known as hay fever, is a widespread health issue worldwide. Various medications are used to treat allergic rhinitis, but they can be ineffective, expensive, or have side effects. Helminths are complex multicellular organisms that inhabit larger organisms and are often asymptomatic in humans. Helminths modulate their hosts' immune systems, and it is suspected that this property of helminths could be therapeutically utilized to prevent or treat allergic conditions such as allergic rhinitis. This systematic review included data from two well-designed studies with a total of 130 adult participants, where a different gastrointestinal helminth species was used as an intervention in each study (human hookworm in one study and pig whipworm in the other). In both studies, no significant efficacy of helminths was found, although one helminth species (Trichuris suis, the pig whipworm) reduced the need for participants to take tablets as emergency medication during the grass pollen season. Adverse events such as abdominal pain and bloating occurred more frequently in the helminth group, but the two helminth species studied did not cause any serious adverse reactions.