ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Helminthic therapy

Helminthic therapy is a way to treat diseases and illnesses using little worms that live inside your tummy.

You see, there are some worms that are actually friendly and helpful to us humans. They can help our immune system become stronger, and fight off bad things like allergies or even autoimmune diseases. In fact, in some parts of the world, people even have these friendly worms living inside of them naturally!

So, scientists have found a way to use these friendly worms to help people who don't have them naturally. They take these little worms and put them inside a special capsule, kind of like a tiny house, and then give the capsule to people to swallow.

Once the friendly worms make their way to the tummy, they start doing their job of helping the immune system. It may take some time to work, but eventually, the worms can help make the person feel better and fight off their illness.

Overall, helminthic therapy is a way to use friendly worms as medicine to help people feel better and fight off diseases.