At the university of wisconsin , madison , dr. john fleming , a neurologist , is testing whether the pig whipworm can temper the effects of multiple sclerosis .
Dr. elliott said that in argentina , researchers found that patients with multiple sclerosis who were infected with the human whipworm had milder cases and fewer flare-ups of their disease over a period of four and a half years .
With river blindness , black flies spread larvae that when grown destroy eye tissue ; mosquitoes do the same for the worms that block the lymphatic system in elephantiasis ; hookworm , roundworm and whipworm are soil-born .