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EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - The upside of Linda Mansfield's research is that it may lead to a new treatment for inflammatory bowel disease. The downside is that it would involve swallowing worm eggs. Mansfield is a professor of microbiology at Michigan State University who specializes in the study of parasites.
She's also one of several researchers around the country looking at the use of threadlike intestinal parasites called whipworms to treat the disease, which can cause diarrhea, painful cramps and even intestinal bleeding.
"It's extremely debilitating," Mansfield told the Lansing State Journal for a story Friday. "People talk about having 256 bouts of diarrhea a year when they have this disease. It gets to the level where some of them are not able to work."
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