Gut reaction

Hookworms are parasites. But could they also be a revolutionary medical treatment?

In a bright modern office in the University of Nottingham’s complex of bright and modern buildings, Dr David Pritchard has fallen silent and is sitting staring at his hands. It’s been a few minutes since he stopped talking. In the first 30 seconds I sent off a string of little vacuous questions that hung in the air like soap bubbles, then popped for want of response. Now I’m sitting silent too, also looking at his hands, considering – as perhaps is he – how much may be within their reach. Dr Pritchard might have at his fingertips a miracle cure for some of the West’s most distressing and debilitating diseases: Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as severe allergies like asthma, hay fever and the peanut/cat/dust mite allergies that can make a life miserable. But the curious thing about Pritchard’s cure is that it might equally come to nothing.

Looking at his troubled face, I suspect what’s weighing him down is this chimerical quality: his work could be a godsend, or it could be a dead end; the evidence so far points in both directions. And it’s not just his own disappointment he has to bear if he’s wrong – there are millions of sufferers out there, waiting for the miracle. Time is not on their side, their medication is often ineffective and unpleasant. As Dr Pritchard and his team set out on the series of tests which will decide the matter one way or another, I think it’s the weight of their hopes he finds hardest.

While Dr Pritchard trances out, I study a photograph of his cure. It’s not a looker. It’s like a monster from a B movie: slimy, ridged head, lumps where eyes should be, a gaping mouth ringed with wedge-shaped teeth.