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A report blames colony collapse disorder on pesticides for possibly damaging the bee's immune system and making them more susceptible to parasites, viruses and bacteria. I know a lot of people are allergic to bees or hate them but check out this quotation: "About one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination." Bees are important!!!

My husband was telling me about this yesterday. He heard about it on reddit but he couldn't remember which kind of bug it was.

That's actually where I found it the other night. It was a very interesting read to say the least.

We briefly discussed this in my immunology class, and, after hearing about it, I wanted to learn more. While I think these people are crazy for infecting themselves with hookworms (one participant didn't even consider the risks before exposing himself), the fact is that their allergies and asthma did improve, almost to the point of vanishing. Studying hookworms and what exactly they do to the immune response to suppress allergies could lead to a brand new treatment, possibly helping people to elimnate their allergies altogether.