Intestinal parasitic worms affect roughly 2 billion people and can lead to a number of detrimental health outcomes, including anemia, loss of iron, and poor absorption of nutrients. Controversy has emerged around an influential study on the positive benefits of mass deworming. Recently a reexamination of the data found gaps and errors, indicating some but not all of the original benefits of deworming programs. Heated debates, or “worm wars,” ensued over social media and other online venues regarding the new evidence.
August 2015