What are parasites?

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What are parasites?

 

In the next page we will examine how to get rid of parasites. But

first, what exactly is a parasite? A parasite is an organism which

lives off the host, the host being you or me. The parasite lives a

parallel life inside our bodies, feeding off either our own energy,

our own cells or the food we eat.

 

In recent medical studies, it has been estimated that 85% of the North

American adult population has at least one form of parasite living

inside their bodies. Some authorities feel this figure may be as high

as 95%.

 

The immediate question that comes to people's minds when they become

informed of this situation is: " How can a parasite possibly live in my

body and I don't even know it is there? " The answer to this is

simple:. the nature of a parasite is to not make itself known. A smart

parasite lives without being detected because if it is detected, of

course, something is going to be done to eradicate it. Parasites are

" clever " in their ability to survive and reproduce, which is of

course, the purpose of any organism on this planet. It sounds pretty

simple, doesn't it? And in some ways it is, but it can make life for

humans very complicated.

 

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.

Parasites - hard to detect and hard to get rid of!

 

If you were to get tested by a doctor for parasites, chances are the

results would come back negative. Does this mean with certainty that

you do not have parasites? Unfortunately medical testing procedures

only catch about 20% of the actual cases of parasites. There exist

over l,000 species of parasites which can live in your body, however

tests are available for approximately 40 to 50 types. This means

physicians are only testing for about 5% of the parasites and missing

80% of those which are present. This brings the ability to clinically

find parasites down to l %.

 

Once you've determined that you do have parasites, taking drugs to get

rid of them may not always work. This is because a drug will often

drive a parasite from one organ of the body to another. It's like

people moving to better climates to make their living conditions more

pleasant, or birds flying south for the winter.

 

The book, " Medical Parasitology " by Markell and Voge, points out 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.

 

How, then, do you determine whether or not you have parasites? In

order to understand how to make this determination, you have to

understand what a parasite does. A parasite eats, lays eggs and

secretes. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? First let's look at the

" eats " part. Depending on the kind, parasites will eat different

things. Some parasites love sugar, for instance. If you are a person

who craves sugar, you may have a sugar loving parasite. These

parasites live off the food that goes into your body. They exist

mainly in the digestive tract, but can also be found in the liver, as

well as throughout the body.

 

Other parasites actually get their nutrition directly from the cells

of the body. They can literally attach themselves anywhere and suck

nutrients out of the cells. These parasites 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.

 

As if it wasn't bad enough to have an uninvited guest living in your

body, the parasites eat your nutrients before you do! They get the

best nutrients, we get the scraps and leftovers. They grow healthy and

fat, yet your organs and skin starve for nutrition. What's more,

parasites can remain in your body for 10, 20 or even 30 years.

 

To illustrate the longevity of parasites in the human body, consider

this example: in l979, a British study reported on 600 former

prisoners from World War 2. These men had been stationed in the Far

East. Thirty years after the war, 15% were still infected with a

parasite called Stronglyloides which they had contracted during the

war. This means you could have eaten meat 10 years ago that was

contaminated and still be hosting the tapeworms or other types of

parasites which were in that meat.

 

Parasites reproduce quickly!

 

Let's now examine the way parasites reproduce. First of all, we need

to 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 what are called protozoa and

amoebae. Despite their being almost invisible, small parasites can be

dangerous. Microscopic parasites can get into your joints and eat the

calcium linings of your bones. This can lead to arthritic tendencies.

They can also eat the protein coating on your nerves (the myelin

sheath) and this can cause a disruption in the nerve signal from the

brain. One type of tiny parasite which infects the colon is called

" Entamoeba Histolytica " . This type of infection can also be found in

the liver, the lungs, and the brain. The disease is called amebiasis,

and is often transmitted via contaminated food or water.

 

Large parasites, which are the worm type, are usually large enough to

be seen with the naked eye. Some can be up to 10 or even 15 inches

long and in most cases cannot travel to other parts of the body, other

than the digestive tract.

 

The smaller parasites, the protozoas and amoebas, can function almost

like a bacteria by 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 are worms which reproduce by laying eggs. Eggs

are deposited into the intestinal tract, where they stick to the walls

of the intestines. When the eggs hatch, the young feed on the food

that 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. Besides tapeworms from beef,

pork and fish, there is also a type of dog tapeworm you can get when

dogs lick your face or hands.

 

Pinworms:

 

Pinworms are very infectious and can cause a lot of itchiness in 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 whipworms.

These insidious creatures actually inject a digestive fluid which

converts the colon tissue into liquid which the worms suck up. 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. That figure must now 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 of all the iron that 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.

 

Parasites Secrete Toxins

 

The 3rd thing which parasites do is secrete. All organisms secrete

something, whether it be lubricants, waste materials, protective

liquids for warding 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 organism. Simply put, the

secretions from parasites into our bodies are poisons and toxins which

our bodies are forced to deal with by increasing the process of

detoxification. As anyone who has ever maintained an aquarium knows,

ammonia is extremely toxic, yet it is one of the gases excreted by

parasites living within human and animal hosts.

 

On the other end, a chronic parasitic infection secreting low levels

of toxins can create an extremely strained immune system which may

allow varied health problems to develop. When the immune system is

strained over a long period of time, it of course, becomes weak. When

the immune system is 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 and other

artificial measures which used to combat them.

 

People with a weakened immune system tend to feel tired all the time.

Some people refer to this as " Chronic Fatigue Syndrome " . If this

sounds like you or someone you know, you may want to seriously

consider the possibility of a depleted immune system caused by a

chronic parasitic infection.

 

Parasites create toxic overload

 

If parasites secrete toxins into our bodies which our bodies need to

neutralize, and we happen to be one of those people who drinks

alcohol, smokes cigarettes, eats junk food and breathes polluted air,

the extra stress and strain on the body's cleansing system can be

enough to push the body into what we call toxic overload. (Those last

few lifestyle choices we just mentionned are under your control, however.

 

Toxic overload occurs when the 4 cleansing systems of the body have

been pushed too far by an overload of toxins in the body. Parasite

toxins in the body are one more thing a toxic body does not need.

 

There are 4 cleansing systems in the body: the lungs, kidneys, skin

and bowel. With toxic bowel syndrome, the excess of toxins absorbed

from a clogged up bowel goes to the liver. The liver is then

over-burdened, eventually unable to cope with this toxic load and the

toxins start to spill 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. So you see, parasites can be one of the most damaging

health factors threatening the world today.

 

Now let's examine what we can do to rid ourselves of parasites.