SoylentNews

Runaway1956 writes:

Parasitic worm 'increases women's fertility':

Infection with a species of parasitic worm increases the fertility of women, say scientists. A study of 986 indigenous women in Bolivia indicated a lifetime of Ascaris lumbricoides, a type of roundworm, infection led to an extra two children. Researchers, writing in the journal Science, suggest the worm is altering the immune system to make it easier to become pregnant.

Experts said the findings could lead to "novel fertility enhancing drugs".

But while Ascaris lumbricoides increased fertility in the nine-year study, hookworms had the opposite effect, leading to three fewer children across a lifetime. Prof Aaron Blackwell, one of the researchers , from the University of California Santa Barara, told the BBC News website: "The effects are unexpectedly large." He said women's immune systems naturally changed during pregnancy so they did not reject the foetus. Prof Blackwell said: "We think the effects we see are probably due to these infections altering women's immune systems, such that they become more or less friendly towards a pregnancy." He said using worms as a fertility treatment was an "intriguing possibility" but warned there was far more work to be done "before we would recommend anyone try this".

The full paper.

The paper suggests that hookworms are the roundworms may not increase lifetime fertility, but instead, suggests fecundity compensation.

Original Submission