Do I Have Parasites?

[tara]

Parasites pose real problem --http://vitanetonline.com/library/Parasites-pose-real-problem/

For most North Americans, the term parasite is connected with the image of poverty-stricken children in central Africa, or perhaps unwary tourists in South America, though these parasites are not as far away as you might think. There are literally dozens of parasites common to the inhabitants of this continent, with tens of thousands of people suffering from infection each year. In fact, some researchers predict that by the turn of this century, nearly one in two Americans will have suffered from at least one parasitic infection by the time they die.

As unfamiliar as parasites might be to most Americans, most of us know someone (perhaps a family member or even ourselves) who has experienced extreme fatigue, food sensitivities, allergic reactions, gastrointestinal upset (including constipation, diarrhea, bloating, etc.), or depression without ever being able to target the cause, even with the help of a doctor.

Do I Have Parasites?

Since various health experts predict that nearly one-half of the earth's inhabitants will experience a parasitic infection by the turn of the century, we should not dismiss any unexplained condition that may suddenly arise.

Constipation can be a common sign of parasite infection. Large worms can obstruct the intestinal tract, the bile duct in the liver, and other organs, thus making bowel movements infrequent and difficult. Diarrhea is also very common, with giardia being a major cause in all children's cases of diarrhea (Alternative Medicine, 784). Indigestion, gas, vomiting, weight loss and bloating are also common gastrointestinal symptoms.

Severe cases of infection can produce a suppressed immune system, poor nutrient absorption (and thus malnutrition), weight loss, and deficiencies of many vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, B6, B12, calcium and magnesium. Parasite infection can also produce or mimic a myriad of other conditions and diseases, often leading to misdiagnosis of such. Various studies tracking the conditions of chronically ill persons show that many of those suffering from chronic disease, such as irritable bowel syndrome or chronic fatigue syndrome, either have or have had some type of parasitic infection.

Natural Treatments for Parasites

Garlic (Allium sativum): While living in Thailand, working for the United Nations, Sonha de Graaff, M.D., noted that the chief medical concern among the various refugee groups and U.N. workers was parasitic infection. She also observed the extensive use of garlic in both nutrition and folk medicine. It was common for a family to ingest whole cloves of garlic daily, partly for taste, but mainly for its ability to prevent and eradicate parasites. Also, a 1996 study points to garlic's ability to kill the African trypanosomes (the feared organisms that cause sleeping sickness and other deadly diseases) and found it to be very effective in curing the host of the trypanosome.

Black Walnut (Juglans nigra): This is perhaps one of the most common ingredients in herbal parasite preparations. Its use as a vermifuge (expels parasite from body) and vermicide (kills parasite in body) are widely circulated. Literally dozens of marketed products used for parasites contain black walnut. The hull of the nut is the part most commonly used.

Elecampane (Inula helenium): This herb has long been used for treating parasitic infection. A recent study supports folk use, showing that extracts of elecampane and another herb were effective in treating the C. sinensis parasite in rabbits.

Pumpkin Seed: Pumpkin seed is another widely used ingredient in herbal preparations for parasite control. Many Chinese herbal preparations contain it (one combination puts it with the Chinese herb quisqualis, to use as a preventive measure).

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium): This is one of the oldest European medicinal plants. Its history is well-documented. Its abilities are similar to those of Artemisia annua, an herb used in Chinese medicine.

Artemisia annua: This herb is an herbal remedy

[tara]

…. medical doctors do not believe parasites are a problem in America, there is still a lot of excellent material in medical literature.

A parasite is any organism that lives in or on another organism, at the expense of that other organism. A host is any animal that harbours a parasite. One of the most penetrating comments I have read about parasites appeared in a medical book called Animals Parasitic in Man, by Geoffrey Lapage. This was originally published in 1957 by Dover Publications. Mr Lapage has spent a lifetime studying parasites in man. On page 22 of his book, Mr Lapage says,

“There is no part of mans body, nor, indeed, any part of the bodies of hosts of parasitic animals in general, which is not visited by some kind of parasitic animal at some time or other during their life histories.”

What he is saying is that parasites can occur anywhere in your body. No organ is immune.

Your blood, your muscles, your heart, your lungs, your brain, they are ALL possible sites for parasitic infestation.

http://www.thelotusclinic.co.uk/2006...tes_worms.html

[tara]

Parasites cause deficits of vitamin A, B6, B12, iron calcium and magnesium (thus result in malnutrition), block absorption and diminish immunity, leaving patients susceptible to serious diseases.(6)((9)(10) Symptoms may appear in all systems of the body, often seeming unrelated, including flu-like illness, confusion, nausea, and tiredness.(1)((9) Even stool samples may fail to show evidence. Parasite infections often go undetected for years due to delayed onset of symptoms. Most exhibit diarrhea, although constipation is common due to nests. Parasites occur in children more than adults and are behind many other disorders (especially in the colon).(6)((9)(12) All members of a family should be checked if one has experienced an infection, including pets.(6)(7)

Predisposing factors include malnutrition, a compromised immune system, and chemical or metal poisoning, and pre-existing viral, fungal or bacterial infections (especially Candida, AIDS and chronic fatigue).(1)(12) Worms thrive on sugar, thus carbohydrate intake should be reduced. Parasitologists say scavenger organisms out-number any other species and also take the form of fungi, viruses, bacteria and certain insects. Treating the patient with multi-faceted natural therapies is the most effective.

Parasites can be present in any disease state and experts contend they are found in every cancer patient, notably Fasciolopsis buskii, a flatworm also common to HIV, Alzeheimer's, Crohn's and endometriosis.

http://www.crohns.net/Miva/education...tes_AACM.shtml

[tara]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/germs/ID00002

Protozoa
?Protozoa are single-celled organisms that behave like tiny animals — hunting and gathering other microbes for food. Protozoa can live within your body as a parasite. Many protozoa call your intestinal tract home and are harmless. Others cause disease, such as the 1993 Cryptosporidium parvum invasion of the Milwaukee water supply, sickening more than 400,000 people. Often, these organisms spend part of their life cycle outside of humans or other hosts, living in food, soil, water or insects.

Most protozoa are microscopic, but there are some exceptions. One type of ocean-dwelling protozoa (foraminifer) can grow to more than 2 inches in diameter. Some protozoa invade your body through the food you eat or the water you drink. Others can be transmitted through sexual contact.

STILL OTHERS ARE VECTOR-BORNE, MEANING THEY RELY ON ANOTHER ORGANISM TO TRANSMIT THEM FROM PERSON TO PERSON. MALARIA IS AN EXAMPLE OF A DISEASE CAUSED BY A VECTOR-BORNE PROTOZOAN PARASITE. Mosquitoes are the vector transmitting the deadly parasite plasmodium, which causes the disease.Infection by one type of roundworm, known as a hookworm, can cause problems in your small intestine or lungs. The average hookworm is about half an inch long.

Helminths
?Helminths are among the larger parasites. The word "helminth" comes from the Greek for "worm." If this parasite — or its eggs — enters your body, it takes up residence in your intestinal tract, lungs, liver, skin or brain, where it lives off the nutrients in your body. The most common helminths are tapeworms and roundworms.

The largest of the roundworms can be more than 12 inches long. And the largest of the tapeworms can grow to be 25 feet or longer. Tapeworms are made up of hundreds of segments, each of which is capable of breaking off and developing into a new tapeworm.

[tara]

http://www.dldewey.com/columns/parasf.htm ... parasites can be carried around in the human body for years without any adverse health symptoms other than an upset stomach from time to time. During these months, years, these little critters can be causing slow serious damage to the body and major organs. There are those that have unexplained illnesses. Their doctors can't find anything wrong with them. They are told their health problems are stress related or their illness is in their mind, not a real illness. Most likely though, it is parasitic infection. The doctor does not even think that it could be a parasite.

Parasitic infection can cause one to gain weight because the person has to eat more to sustain both himself and the parasite(s). Parasites build a mucus on the inside of the colon wall that requires more and more food to be comsumed so the body can try to acquire much needed nutrients. This mucus prevents the person from absorbing much these needed nutrients to prevent other diseases as well. Parasites consume large quantities of vitamins, minerals and trace element minerals besides sugars and proteins.

Who In The Population Has Parasites?

You may not believe this also. One-half of the population carries at least one form of parasite. Disturbing is that twenty five percent of people with an active infection have symptoms. This could be as simple as a continous upset stomach or irritable bowel syndrome. And you do not have to travel to foreign countries to acquire parasites. In the United States, the problem of parasitic infection has become a nightmare. In the warmer humid climates, the infection rate exceeds the rest of the country. One study found that one-third of people with chronic fatigue that were tested, were found to be infected with Giardia lamblia. Another study found one-half of people tested were infected with Candiada albicans, which is yeast. A study at the University of Virginia found that an ameba called, Entamoeba histolytica produces a toxic subtance in the body that attacks the very immune defense cells that INACTIVATE the HIV virus. Malaria infects 300-600 million people and kills approximately 3 million a year, 1 million a year in Africa alone. This has doubled in the last ten years.

What Can Your Doctor Do?

Parasites or worms can be seen easily as they die off and pass through the stools. Most parasites and worms however can only be detected through microscopic means. If you go to a doctor without seeing any parasites in the stools and still feel you may have them anyway, you will probably be talking to someone who has had very little or no training at all in diagnosing or treating parasitic infections. If you go to your doctor with diarreha or fever, you will most likely receive medication to stop the symptoms without finding the cause. People can go for years with doctors running test after test, trying to find the cause of their illness. People may even be hospitalized, but yet are still sick. The problem is that no one thought that it could be a parasite or worm causing the unexplained illness.

Testing for Parasites

Sadly, at the present time, many medical testing procedures for most parasites are only positive twenty percent of the time. The reasons? Poor laboratory standards, not enough stool samples, using the wrong test or not even tests of the stool to catch the parasite in a phase where it can be detected in the stools. Parasites excrete toxins that can be detected in the stools. The problem? If one has one or more parasites, these toxins may not be in the stools every day. The other problem is that there are over 1,000 different parasites with only about fifty tests available to detect fifty different parasites. There are specialty parasite laboratories thought that have accurate methods of detecting these parasites, but your doctor must use one of these labs.

Treating Parasites

What if you found that you have one or more parasites living in you? Would your doctor know which medication to treat you with and how much of it? Usually, there are only a few physicians, even in a large city like New York that are familiar with parasites. There is different medication for different parasites.

There are some herbs available like Wormwood oil to treat certain parasite. The minium adult dosage is 15 ml. daily. Too much can cause headaches, trembling, stupor and convulsions. This and other herbs should only be used under the care of a Naturopathic Physician. It should not be given to children. There are prescriptions medications that kill parasites like Flagyl for Giardia, Metronidazole and Abendazole for other parasites. Again, these should only be used under the care of a Physician. If there is more than one parasite, it could take anywhere from several months to a year to kill them all. These medications cannot be given all at once because it could be harmful to the body. If you do not use the correct medication and most importantly the duration, taking one to two pills one to three times a week for several weeks off and on, because eggs are still hatching, the parasites continue to live in the body. And yes, one can become re-infected by any of the means previously explained.

Laboratories That Specialize in Parasite Testing
Most of these labs offer comprehensive parasitic testing

The Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratory
18A Regent Park Boulevard
Ashville, North Carolina 28806
800-522-4762

The Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning
3100 North HIllside Ave.
Wichita, Kansas 67219
800-447-7276

Medical Diagnostic Laboratory
3250 Westchester Ave.
Bronx, New York 10461
212-828-1500

Institute of Parasitic Diseases
Diagnostic Laboratory
3530 E. Indian School Road, Suite 3
Phoenix, Arizona 85018
602-955-4211

The Director at the Institute of Parasitic Diseases is Dr. Omar M. Amin, Ph.D. He was a Professor of Parasitic Epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin and currently is Professor of Parasitology at Arizona State University and have over 100 major articles published in journals in human parasitic infection.

Physicians Referral Service

If your regular physician is not familar with parasitic infection, you can find one possibly in you area by calling the American Association of Naturopathic Medicine. You physician can also acquire some drugs from the CDC to fight parasites. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectcious Dieases has available to your physician some of the drugs used to treat parasitic infection. Contact them at 800-537-9978.

American Association of Naturopathic Medicine
601 Valley Street - Suite 105
Seattle, WA 98109
Phone 206-298-0126, Fax 206-298-0125

Your Drinking Water

[Gator]

Tara.

Thanks for all the information about parasites. Thanks for the time you donated to us for research and posting. The information you shared is invaluable.

I totally agree with you that parasites are behind most ailments and diseases in America and the world.
When I am more able, I will follow up the websites and check about sending samples by mail.

I will have to find a doctor or N.D. who will do this, hopefully in my area as I cannot travel very far, only short distances.

It has been said "It takes a whole village to raise a child properly" and I believe it takes all of us caring and sharing to beat this disease.

Hugs and prayers
g_mrrsn

"A good exercise for the heart is to bend down and help another up"

[tara]

You are most welcome, gator. I sincerely hope that the info is useful. Pity is that most doctors are not trained to recognize a parasite infection - it is almost like it would be politically incorrect to diagnose the causation of one of those alphabet diseases to be a parasite - and yet malaria is a parasitic infection. Go figure.

People are still squeamish when it comes to parasites although, the issue has been around for as long as mankind. We can accept our pets or people in third world countries as having parasites, yet we tend to be naive about having parasites ourselves. ?
Reality is that we are not immune to these critters. For the most part, we do not notice the effects of parasites on our Systems, mostly because we have adapted to them and attributed other issues to their effects. http://www.zhealthinfo.com/parasites.htm

"…Parasites have killed more humans than all the wars in history.” - from the award-winning National Geographic documentary, The Body Snatchers

According to UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children Report, “About 1.5 billion people have roundworms, making it the third most common human infection in the world. Whipworm infects 1 billion people, and more than 1.3 billion people carry hookworm in their gut, and 265 million people are infected with schistosomes [parasitic flatworms in the blood vessels of mammals].” http://www.puristat.com/parasites/pa...efinitions.asp

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE REASONS FOR GETTING PARASITES IN OUR BODY?

the rise of international travel
contamination of municipal and rural water supply
the influx of refugees and immigrants from endemic areas
the return of soldiers from overseas
the popularity of household pets
the increasing popularity of exotic regional foods
the use of antibiotics and immuno-suppressive drugs
the sexual revolution
the spread of AIDS
undercooked meats and raw fish
ingestion of improperly washed fruits, vegetables and grains
physical and chemical toxins and pollutions

WHAT ARE THE WARNING SIGNS THAT WE MIGHT HAVE PARASITES IN OUR BODY? Symptoms of parasites include: constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, skin conditions, allergies, sleeping problems, joint and muscle aches and pains, nervousness, granulomas, anemia, teeth grinding, chronic fatigue and other problems of the immune system.

http://www.island.net/~zapper/Parasites.html

[tara]

Studies have indicated that as much as 85% of the North American population has at least one form of parasite, and some authorities believe the true figure may be as high as 95%. 4 Parasites are, in fact, the Center for Disease Control's #1 health risk. 5 You must consider that no one is immune from parasite infestation.

While the problem of parasites is widespread, it often goes unrecognized. Because parasitic infestation has generally been considered a disease of the tropics, the average physician is seldom a focus in mainstream medical journals or medicals schools. There are only three nationally reportable parasitic diseases: Cryptosporidiosis, malaria and trichinosis, and apart from the records kept by the CDC, there is little tracking for parasites. With lack of information and little training, doctors seldom look for parasites as an underlying cause of illness.

http://www.qfac.com/detox/parasites.html

[tara]

http://curezone.com/diseases/parasites/

Parasites are a serious public health threat because so few people are talking about them and even fewer people are listening when they are being discussed. They are insidious because of the common misconception among medical people and the general public that parasites are generally a Third World problem where malnutrition and poor hygienic practices exist. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Tests often do not show parasites because the testing procedures are by and large outdated and inadequate.

Here’s What Informed People Are Saying . . . .

An article in June 27, 1978, Miami Herald states that a nationwide survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control in 1976 revealed that one in every six people selected at random had one or more parasites.

Louis Parrish, M.D. a New York City physician who specializes in parasites, wrote in 1991, "based upon my experience, I estimate in the New York metropolitan area that 25 % percent of the population is infected . . . . . . . . Projections for the year 2025 suggest that more than half of the 8.3 billion people on Earth will then be infected with parasitic diseases."

"We have a tremendous parasite problem right here in the United States - it’s just not being identified." - Peter Weiner, Ph.D., Chief of Pathobiology, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, 1991.

"I strongly believe that every patient with disorders of immune function, including multiple allergies (especially food allergy), and patients with unexplained fatigue or with chronic bowel symptoms should be evaluated for the presence of intestinal parasites." - Leo Galland, M.D. Townsend Letter for Doctors, 1988.

"Make no mistake about it, worms are the most toxic agents in the human body. They are one of the primary underlying causes of disease and are the most basic cause of a compromised immune system." - Hazel Parcells, D.C., N.D., Ph.D., 1974.

[tara]

Can I get tested for parasites?

There are only few laboratories in the USA, that we know of, which are competent to diagnose the presence of some parasites in the feces and in the intestines. BUT, not the presence of all species of parasites. Recognizing microscopic parasitic eggs in the feces is much harder job then finding bacteria, yeast or virus. "Good" labs are:

Meridian Valley Labs.
24030 132nd Ave. SE
Kent, Washington 98042
(800) 234-6825

Great Smokies Labs.
18 A Regent Park Blvd.
Asheville, North Carolina 28806
(800) 522-4762

You might also find a competent physician in your area by contacting these labs for that information.

It is generally cheaper and easier to do herbal or Coenzyme Q10 parasites cleanse, then to diagnose the presence of parasites in the feces. If you do have worms, parasites cleanse will get them out, and that is the best diagnoses. Don't bother sending specimens to local laboratories.

Ascaris Lumbricoides, large roundworm of humans, is the most common nematode parasite of humans, infecting an estimated 1.47 billion individuals. Pathology can result from pneumonia caused by the worm's migration through the lungs, blocking of the gastrointestinal track or the bile or pancreatic duct. Ascaris Lumbricoides is physically indistinguishable from Ascaris suum

http://curezone.com/diseases/parasites/