The bizarre new way to boost fertility

In today’s surprising health news, new research has found a stomach-churning way to increase your chances of pregnancy.

The study published in the journal Science has found that women who are infected with a certain parasitic worm are more likely to become pregnant. Yes, you read that right.

For the study, researchers examined just under 1000 Tsimane women in Bolivian over nine years and found that those infected with the roundworm species, scaris lumbicoides, had around two more children than those women without the worm. According to researchers, the infection was also associated with shorter intervals between birth and earlier first pregnancies.

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Tsimane women are part of Bolivia's indigenous community and in general have an average of 10 children.

“We think the effects we see are probably due to these infections altering women’s immune systems, such that they become more or less friendly towards a pregnancy,” Aaron Blackwell, one of the study’s authors told the BBC.

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While more research needs to be done – researchers suggest that a suppressed immune system may make the body less likely to reject a foetus, adding that there could be a practical use of the potential link.

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