IN NOVEMBER 2010, science writer Moises Velasquez-Manoff went to a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, to be infected with 30 flesh-burrowing hookworm larvae. This dubious act had a purpose: Velasquez-Manoff has eczema, asthma, allergies and alopecia universalis – an autoimmune disease that causes total body hair loss. This controversial new treatment purports to alleviate these conditions by infecting people with the very parasites humans have long fought to eradicate.
In An Epidemic of Absence, Velasquez-Manoff chronicles his experience with worm treatment. Eventually his allergies dwindle, fine hairs sprout and his eczema disappears. He also explores the underground community using parasites to…
