Medical Significance of Nematodes

Nematodes are invertebrates that can cause parasitic diseases in humans, animals and plants. These organisms also participate in the decomposition of dead remains of organisms. In recent years, new reports have appeared on the possibility of using intentional nematode infections in the treatment of autoimmune and neurological diseases.

The aim of this work is to summarize information about nematodes pathogenic to humans and the possibilities of therapeutic use of some nematodes. 36 original and review publications from 2008-2022 were analyzed.

Information was collected on 13 diseases caused by parasitic nematodes in humans (reservoir, routes of infection, susceptible organisms, symptoms of infection). Current publications on trials of using Trichuris suis eggs (TSO) in animal models, in healthy humans and in people with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or multiple sclerosis (MS) are summarized. Clinical improvement was observed in some of the subjects. However, researchers draw attention to the depletion of the biodiversity of the host’s intestinal microbiota in the presence of TSO.

Conclusions

The results of research on the therapeutic use of TSO remain inconclusive.

There are many more diseases caused by parasitic nematodes in humans than there are documented therapeutic effects of TSOs.

Exposure to parasitic nematodes’ eggs (especially Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati) is still very common.