Facts About Parasites
What exactly is a parasite? A parasite is an organism that lives off its host, (us) feeding off either our own energy, our own cells or the food we eat.
Medical studies estimated that 85% of the North American adult population has at least one form of parasite living inside their bodies and some authorities feel this figure may be as high as 95%.
Here are just a few of the chronic symptoms that parasites can cause:
INABILITY TO GAIN OR LOSE WEIGHT – CHRONIC CANDIDA - YEAST INFECTIONS – CHRONIC SINUS OR EAR INFECTIONS – ITCHY EARS OR NOSE – ANAL ITCHING, ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT – DIGESTIVE PROBLEMS – GAS AND BLOATING – DIARRHEA – MUCUSY STOOLS – HEMORRHOIDS – CONSTIPATION – IRRITABLE BOWEL SYNDROME – GRINDING TEETH WHILE SLEEPING – HEART PAIN – NUMB HANDS – PAIN IN THE NAVEL – PAIN IN THE BACK,THIGHS OR SHOULDERS – ARTHRITIC PAINS – BURNING IN THE STOMACH – BED WETTING – DROOLING WHILE SLEEPING – ANY MENSTRUAL COMPLAINT – CYSTS AND FIBROIDS – EATING MORE AND STILL BEING HUNGRY – ALL SKIN PROBLEMS – FORGETFULNESS – DEPRESSION – CHRONIC FATIGUE – CHRONIC VIRAL SYNDROMES – PROSTATE PROBLEMS AND SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION IN MEN – WATER RETENTION (mostly from tapeworms) – CRAWLING FEELING UNDER THE SKIN – FLOATERS – LIVER/GALLBLADDER TROUBLE
And the list goes on and on. We must now be realistic. If 85% to 95% of the population, healthy or sick, has parasites, any illness can be suspected as having as its cause, parasites!
It is now being considered that perhaps 50% of all cancer, diabetes, asthma, arthritis and heart disease comes from parasites!
How can a parasite live in your body without your knowledge? In the book, “Animals Parasitic in Man” by Geoffrey Lapage, he states: “There is no part of the human body, nor indeed, any part of the bodies of the hosts of parasitic animals in general, which is not visited by some kind of parasitic animal at some time or another, during their life histories” This means parasites can occur anywhere in your body. No organ is immune from their infestation.
What if you were tested and the results were negative? Does this mean with certainty that you do not have parasites? Unfortunately medical testing procedures vary and only catch about 20% of the actual cases of parasites. There are more than a thousand species of parasites that can live in our body, however tests are available for only approximately 40- 50 types. This means physicians are only testing for about 5% of the parasites while 80% can go undetected and still be present. Therefore the reliability of clinically testing for parasites is about 1%.
In the book, “Medical Pararsitology” by Markell and Voge, it’s stated that therapy to remove entire tapeworms from the small intestine is only successful if the whole worm is expelled. If the head remains, the entire worm will grow back.
A parasite eats, lays eggs and secretes waste. They live off the food in our body and although mainly found in the digestive tract, they can also be found in the liver as well as other vital organs. Parasites get their nutrition directly from the cells of the body. They attach anywhere and draw out nutrients from the cells. Some species are significantly more dangerous because they can travel to areas in the body where they can do a lot more damage than a parasite living exclusively in the digestive tract.
To make matters worse, parasites eat the nutrients before you do! They grow healthy and fat, while your organs and skin starve for nutrition. Parasites can remain in your body for 10, 20 or even 30 years. This means you could have eaten meat 10 years ago that was contaminated and still be hosting the tapeworms or other types of parasites that continuously lay more eggs.
How do parasites reproduce? First understand that there are two major categories of parasites: large parasites which are primarily worms and small parasites which are mainly microscopic in size, (including protozoa and amoebae). Despite being almost invisible, small parasites can be dangerous. Microscopic parasites can get into joints and eat the calcium linings of your bones. This can lead to arthritic tendencies. They can also eat the protein coating of the nerves (the myelin sheath) and this can cause a disruption in the nerve signal from the brain.
Large parasites, (worms) are usually large enough to be seen with the naked eye. Some can be up to 10- 15 inches long and in most cases cannot travel to other parts of the body, other than the digestive tract.
The smaller parasites, (protozoas and amoebas) function similar to bacteria, traveling through the bloodstream to virtually any part of the body. They reproduce without laying eggs and behave more like an infection in the body than do the larger parasites.
The larger parasites (worms) reproduce by laying eggs. Eggs are deposited into the intestinal tract where they stick to the walls of the intestines. When the eggs hatch, they feed on the foods we eat and eventually grow into adults. The adults then repeat this process.
Some of the larger parasites:
Tapeworms:
The fish tapeworm is the largest of the human tapeworms, reaching the length of 33 feet or more. There can be 3,000 to 4,000 segments in one worm. It can produce more than 1,000,000 eggs a day. This type of infestation can cause anemia because of interference with vitamin B12. Tapeworms can also cause water retention. Aside from tapeworms found in beef, pork and fish, our beloved dogs can also carry tapeworms then transfer them to humans through licking your face or hands. (Have you ever seen a dog scoot his bottom across the floor?) Tapeworms!
Pinworms:
Pinworms are very infectious and can cause a lot of itching around the anal area. The worms deposit their eggs mostly at night, contaminating pajamas and bed linen. The eggs are readily transported through the air, and it is not uncommon to find them in every room of the house. Complications are much more common in women than in men. Pinworms can also sometimes be found in the vulva, uterus and fallopian tubes because the worm loses its way while trying to return to the anus after depositing its eggs.
Roundworms:
Another type of roundworm that can be present in humans is the whipworm. These parasites inject a digestive fluid which converts colon tissue into a liquid that the worms then nourish off of. Dr. Norman Stoll, a former worm expert at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, estimated, in the 1940s, that the roundworm infects about 644 million people in the world. Nutritional deficiencies are seen in heavy roundworm infections. This figure could be much higher 60 years later.
Hookworms:
Hookworms bite and suck on the intestinal wall, which can cause bleeding and necrosis (death of the tissue). In severe infections, iron deficiency becomes a problem because the iron is lost to the hookworm. Hemoglobin levels as low as 15% of normal have been seen in patients with severe, long-standing hookworm disease.
The smaller parasites reproduce without the process of laying eggs. They reproduce by duplicating themselves in a manner similar to bacteria or viral reproduction.
Toxic Waste from Parasites
Parasites also secrete waste! All organisms secrete something, whether its lubricants, waste materials, protective liquids to ward off viruses, bacteria and other harmful organisms, or secretions to help attract food. No matter what the secretion is– the secretion can be a toxin to the host (us). The secretions that parasites dump into our bodies daily are poisonous toxins, which the body is forced to deal with by increasing the process of detoxification.
On the other end, a chronic parasitic infection secreting low levels of toxins can create an extremely strained immune system that may allow varied health problems to develop. When the immune system is compromised over a long period of time, it becomes weak. And if weak, our bodies become susceptible to infections of all kinds. This can be an extremely dangerous situation in this day and age because we are exposed to more viruses than ever before. Also, they are changing and adapting at a very fast rate, as are the bacteria, many of which are now resistant to antibiotics.
People with a weakened immune system tend to feel tired all the time and suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Parasites Create Toxic Overload
If parasites secrete toxins into our bodies (which then needs to be neutralized), and we drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, eat junk food and breathe polluted air, the extra stress and strain on the body’s cleansing system can be enough to push the body into what is called toxic overload. Some of these things are our “choice” but others are not.
Toxic overload occurs when the 4 cleansing systems of the body have been pushed to exhaustion. The 4 cleansing organs are: the lungs, kidneys, skin and bowel. With toxic bowel syndrome, the excess of toxins absorbed from a clogged bowel goes to the liver. The liver is then over-loaded and eventually unable to manage the heavy toxic burden and start spilling the toxins into the bloodstream.
Once this happens, the kidneys, lungs and skin have to take over the job of cleansing and they too become challenged in their ability to remain healthy. Parasites can be one of the most damaging health factors threatening the global community today!