Wisconsin ? For several years, scientists have suspected that our hyper-hygienic world of vaccinations, antibacterial soap and bottled water might be making people sick by bewildering their immune systems and causing them to turn on their bodies.

Now, doctors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are about to carry that theory to the ickiest extreme.

They soon will begin serving up liquid concoctions of microscopic worm eggs to people with multiple sclerosis in the hope that the parasites will tone down the immune systems of the patients and relieve their symptoms.

The experiment is based in part on observations first made more than 40 years ago that high levels of sanitation in a child’s environment are associated with an increased risk of developing MS.

MS is believed to be a so-called autoimmune disease in which the body’s immune system launches an attack against its own tissue.