Study Claims Parasitic Worm can Boost Women’s Fertility

A recent study has revealed that infection with a species of the roundworm Ascaris lumbricoides can increase fertility in women.

Researchers claim women in Bolivia have had two children as a result of being infected with the parasite.

The roundworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, alters their immune system to make it easier for them to become pregnant, and experts say this findings could lead to new fertility-enhancing drugs being developed.
Professor Michael Gurven, of University of California Santa Barbara said “While Ascaris lumbricoides increased fertility, an infection with hookworm had the opposite effect, leading to women having three fewer children. The Tsimane look at us as poor because we only have one or two children. Their population growth rate is almost 4 percent, so every 17 years or so, they double their numbers.”

986 Tsimane women in Bolivia were observed, almost all of them have nothing less than nine children and 70 per cent of the population is said to be infected with the parasite.