According to a study by the Scottish scientists, worm based medicines may help in treating patients suffering from and rheumatoid arthritis.

The team at the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, claim that the secretions from parasitic worms could be used on humans providing a lead for permanent cure in diseases.

This study originated from the keen observation by Professor Billy Harnett, professor of molecular immunology, who noticed over the past ten or 20 years that people who live in Third World countries tend to have low levels of ailments like asthma and rheumatoid arthritis and on the flip side in Western countries these diseases are on a continues rise.

However in the recent study a parasite called filarial nematodes, which causes elephantiasis, was employed and the secretions of the same were used to target the ‘mast’ cells which led to deliver successful results by blocking the mast cells.

Mast cells have an important role to play in case of asthma, and get aggravated whilst asthma attacks and starts emitting secretions causing distressing symptoms, states Prof. Harnett.  This is a critical cell in asthma. “What happens in asthma is when your mast cells become exposed to things like pollen, for example, they become activated and start to secrete chemicals which cause all the of asthma” he said.