Parasitic worms may have their perks. For indigenous people at the Amazon’s southern edge, infection with the slithering gut hitchhikers may protect against other parasites, a new study shows.

The finding calls into question whether parasitic infections should always receive treatment. “By treating one thing, we may increase susceptibility to something else,” says anthropologist Aaron Blackwell of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who led the study. (1)

Weird thing life is.

One moment you think you know everything.
A second later you just feel stupid…

Even the simplest assumptions (“treating a parasite infection is good”), should be tested…