Schistosoma and other parasites can be mild or severe

A single dose of albendazole has little or no effect against other important parasites. Of particular concern are two common parasitic infections: Strongyloides stercoralis (nematodes) and Schistosoma spp. (trematodes). 

Strongyloides is particularly in those from Southeast Asia.  Schistosoma may come from the Caribbean, South or Central America, Egypt as well as China.  Prevalence was under-recognized since mostly stool testing was used, a poor technique for detection of these organisms.  Both strongyloidiasis and schistosomiasis are chronic and are linked with much morbidity and mortality.  

Unlike other trematodes, schistosomes are not hermaphroditic, but form separate sexes. Adult worms have elongate tubular bodies, each male has a gynecophoral canal (schisto-soma = split body) in which a female worm resides.  These blood flukes have five different developmental stages: eggs, miracidia, sporocysts, cercariae and adult worms.

Adult schistosomes are half an inch long and live in blood vessels, laying thousands of eggs, causing hives anywhere; many eggs become lodged in the lymphatics, liver or bladder wall, causing portal hypertension, liver failure and bladder cancer (which may be misleadingly interpreted as low back pain).

Fluke eggs penetrate into the intestines or bladder to be voided.  Many eggs may also become trapped, triggering immune response.  Schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) is unusual in helminth diseases.  Much of the pathogenesis is due to the eggs (rather than larvae or adults); and most damage comes from immune responses (delayed-type hypersensitivity and/or granulomatous). 

Schistosomes are parasitic flatworms that can live inside people for decades.  Stem cells allow the fluke to keep regenerating its body parts. 

After hatching in feces contaminated water, the parasites come through the skin on a tiny burrowing snail cercaria.  During invasion of human skin by schistosome larvae, a multicellular organism breaches the epidermis, basement membrane and dermal barriers.  Proteins plentiful in psoriatic or UV and heat-stressed (melanin and keratin) skin are not abundant in invaded skin.

Few doctors in the US are trained to suspect common symptoms as parasitic infections. Doctors also need lab tests (which are often negative due to a variety of parasite survival ruses) and exposure histories to find these clever parasites. 

To boot, few doctors are trained to look for parasites. Infectious disease specialists are best qualified to diagnose and treat these conditions (although the specialty more readily labels AIDS as cause). 

Complicating the issue, testing for parasites is of limited usefulness.  While more than 3,000 parasites can inhabit humans, we only have tests for 40.  Though most parasites make their home in the nutrient dense small intestines, they can migrate anywhere in the body. 

Tests for parasites usually depend on examination of several stool samples.  The irregular life cycles of these pests mean that on any given day, no sign of them may be evident in feces.  A thorough examination requires multiple tests over different time periods.

Parasites aren't limited to travelers and exotic-food fans: About 1 out of 3 Americans is infected with an intestinal parasite at any given time.  Some argue that parasites are normal and typically 'farm' our biofilm like our own mobile and phagocytic white blood cells.  

Mucus is a sticky visco-elastic material which coats all mucosal surfaces.  Mucus has many ways of protecting mucosa from chemical and physical injury, lubrication of the mucosal surface to facilitate passage, keeping potential pathogens in their planktonic state and removal of parasites by binding and entrapment.  Mucus also facilitates absorption and assimilation. 

Mostly, the immune system helps to keep harmful parasites in check or clear them, so they cause few symptoms.  Sometimes, digestive complaints are a sign of parasites.

Besides overgrowth of yeast, there are 3 types of animals that typically feast on us and our biofilm (often together). Protozoa - one-celled organisms that live and multiply anywhere.  Protozoa infect the body via mosquitoes and flies, and are found in soil and water. Helminths - parasitic flatworms, flukes, tapeworms, thorny-headed worms, roundworms and pinworms with several confusingly changing forms.  Helminths live in the GI tract and are generally self-limiting or some can travel anywhere and cause almost anything including slow death (that masquerades as aging). Ectoparasites - bedbugs, ticks, fleas, lice and mites (let alone, mosquitoes and flies or bees and wasps). Head lice can be transmitted through casual contact while pubic lice (crabs) can be acquired via sexual contact. Anyone living with people who have lice should be examined for lice and treated.  If you happen to sleep on the same bed as the person with lice, you should be treated for lice.   Clothing, bedding and towels used 2 days before should be washed in hot water and dried in an electric dryer on hot. A vacuum can clean furniture, car seats, and carpets.  Things that can’t be washed or vacuumed can be sealed in a plastic bag for two weeks.  Head lice can’t survive outside the body for more than 48 hours so any items used more than 2 days before treatment is not likely to still have lice.   Ectoparasites carry infections that they pass to humans: borriela, bartonella, babesia, erlichia, mycoplasma and more along with their viruses.   Borrieia is the spirochete linked with Lyme disease although it is now thought that chronic lyme is a collection of infections.  Lyme disease is also called multiple infection syndrome. Recovering requires improving immunity by both enhancing detoxification as well as treating pathogens.   Lyme disease is a controversial tick-borne illness that is probably four times more common than AIDS in the US.  Although antibiotic monotherapy has been successful in treating early Lyme disease, the use of combination antibiotic therapy modeled on HIV treatment appears to be more effective for patients with persistent symptoms. The Lyme disease a person acquires from mites can develop into Morgellons disease. Morgellons is a skin manifestation of Lyme when the disease is fully systemic.  Lyme disease has become an epidemic (300,000-1,000,000), with mostly women and children diagnosed annually in the US.  Increased virulence is likely related to the dramatic rise in electromagnetic fields and microwave radiation. The IGeneX Lab in Palo Alto uses two different antigens for its blood test.  Commercial labs and hospitals use one antigen and often under-diagnose Lyme disease.  Better not to test rather than get a false negative, which leads down the wrong path.  With other co-infections, the detection rate drops way down. Fry Labs in Arizona provides excellent direct microscopy.  Bartonella typically does not live in the blood. It lives in the nervous system. So if you find it in the blood in small amounts it generally means that there is a high amount in other tissues. There are many parasitic infections. Their effect can be mild or life threatening.  Malaria is the most prevalent parasitic disease, killing more than 1 million annually, followed by schistosomiasis; while trichomoniasis, a sexually-transmitted vaginal infection, is the most common US parasitic infection.

Toxocara is a dog or cat roundworm that also infects humans.  Typically these worms live in the gut.  Their eggs are released in poop that infects the soil. The tiny larvae within the egg live a long time in the soil. They are regular in city parks, sandboxes and areas of dirt.  The southeastern US has the most. Humans are exposed to toxocara from dirt.   Eggs can get on hands or under nails.  If we put those hands in mouth, eat before washing or get fingers too close to our faces, we can accidentally introduce the eggs into our body.  Children are particularly at risk. Toxocara typically causes hives and/or swollen lymph nodes (just like lymphoma) and can cause fever, flu symptoms, swollen liver, wheezing, cough and shortness of breath. Sometimes causing seizures or behavioral changes corresponding to the travels of its small larvae (visceral larva migrans).  Subtle versions of toxocara are very difficult to diagnose.  Covert toxocaraiasis may just cause abdominal pain, poor appetite, isolated wheezing or coughing.  The worm can travel into the nerves or eye. The retina can become very inflamed and the center part of the eye can get cloudy (ocular toxocara).    Berberine has a history of use for eye infections.  Berberine has been more effective than sulfacetamide in eliminating chlamydia trachomatis from the eye and preventing relapse. To diagnose a toxocara infection, your doctor starts with basic blood counts. When the larva travels through the body (or you express allergic response), eosinophils increase.  This is a major clue that disseminated parasites are at the root of heightened immunity.  Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that attack parasites. Specific antibody tests for toxocara might then pinpoint this worm as the cause of the infection. There are antibiotics that kill toxocara (mebendazole and albendazole). Treatment usually lasts 1-3 weeks. If there is nerve or eye involvement, doctors use steroids first to calm the inflammation. One may need surgery to clean the center part of the eye. Sometimes people need multiple rounds of both antibiotics and steroids to treat relapses. To prevent a toxocara infection, wash your hands after working in the yard or playing in the dirt. Treat pets on a regular schedule for roundworms.  Pregnant dogs are also be treated so their litters do not get infected. And scoop your pet’s poop! Babesia is microscopic and infects RBCs, like malaria.  These parasites grow and multiply inside RBCs, increasing in number until the cell explodes.  The same ticks that carry Lyme disease can also carry Babesia.  Most are in the northeast.  Babesia is also a co-infection of Lyme disease.  Parasites are so pervasive that one is encouraged to do a thorough parasite cleanse every few years and then a periodic update now and then.  One might try guzzling a few anti-parasitic herbs at the full moon, every month and only doing a serious cleanse every 3-5 years. Ticks attach to mammals in order to suck little bits of blood.  Very young ticks (nymphs) carry the biggest potential for infection.  Ticks need to stay attached for about 24 hours in order to transfer their infection from their saliva into us. The longer they stay attached, the bigger the chance for infection. After Babesia infection, one feels achy, with muscle pains, fatigue, headache and fever. It can be mistaken for the flu. With more significant infections, one can become anemic and even jaundiced as RBCs are destroyed.  People over the age of 60 tend to be sicker.  If you had your spleen removed, remind your doctor. Babesia diagnosis is from a blood smear.  Cells are microscopically examined for tiny rings of parasite.  Clumps of four Babesias form a chunky cross inside the RBC.  This “tetrad” is diagnostic.  Finding these tiny organisms is like finding a 'needle in a haystack.'  Only 1% (or less) of cells show parasites.  Sometimes amplifying tiny bits of parasite DNA finds the culprit. Antibodies against Babsesia suggest infection. DNA and antibody tests need to be sent to special labs. Many with light cases don't get apparently sick.  Anyone who gets sick (even with just flu-like symptoms) is likely infested. Two different antibiotics are needed to kill the parasite: atovoquone and azithromycin. Both pills are taken for a week. For the critically ill, stronger antibiotics like quinine and clindamycin are favored. To avoid babesia, avoid ticks!  Ticks like to live in tall grasses, near woodpiles and at the edge of forests. Wear light-colored clothes because the tick shows up well. Tuck your socks over your pant legs, which prevents ticks from latching to your ankles as you walk.  Mosquito repellant is also effective against ticks.  Shower after being outdoors and look for ticks on yourself, children and pets.  Look behind the ears and on the neck, scalp, legs and groin.  Like parasites, Lyme disease is officially "easy" to treat, so even if diagnosed, neither proper treatment nor monitoring is available. "Lyme disease does not exist" in Australia, and it requires only a few weeks of antibiotics in the U.S.  Obamacare will not change this.  The government may even criminalize comprehensive treatment. Babesia, one of the co-infections of Lyme disease, is similar to malaria.  Lyme disease is another 'autoimmune disease' reacting to an unseen pathogenic biofilm. There isn't a cure per se, but one can go into remission using both herbs and antibiotics. Cercaria come from bird schistosomes, parasites that live in their blood. The parasite is eventually released in poop and infects the water.  Small snails pick up the parasite, where it matures into the tiny cercarial form.  These are dumped back into the water, where they look for another bird (or pale human) to continue their life cycles. Humans can be the host when the tiny larvae stick into our skin.  Humans are different enough from birds that these parasites usually don't live long or are biopsied in a swollen lymph node. The parasites usually die quickly as our body’s defenses attack. Inflammation that our body generates causes the rash, not the parasite itself.  Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia) is a digenean trematode infection and is the most scary human helminthiasis. The numbers infected are lower than many nematodes (about 200 million).  In terms of active disease, annual deaths are about one million directly due to parasitic infection.  (Practically all who die in the US are diagnosed with something else.) Parasites are commonly found in still fresh water.  Wading in shallow water can expose legs to these tiny parasites, especially if warm.   After infection, the skin will burn, and then intensely itch.  Small bumps that look like pimples or blisters appear. If you scratch, bacteria can infect these hives.   Every time you are exposed, the rash and itching gets worse.  There are no tests to diagnose cercarial dermatitis. If anybody asks, having a history of a recent exposure is typically enough to imply the diagnosis. Usually the rash goes away on its own within two weeks.   The cecaria can take years to evolve into blood flukes that confuse immunity while they search for a sexual partner and air (in lungs and sinuses) so that they can lay eggs (which then excite immune response). Topical cortisone can help calm the inflammation, and Benadryl helps with the itching. If the rash lasts longer than two weeks, you either got it infected or you have been re-exposed to the parasite. In order to prevent getting sick, beware shallow water. Wash off the water as soon as you get out and towel dry. If you develop a rash, avoid contact because repeated exposure will just make the rash worse.

While parasites can cause many symptoms, here are general warning signs:

1. Changes in the look or frequency of bowel movements, especially loose stools or constipation punctuated with diarrhea.
2. Chronic exhaustion not resolved by restful sleep.
3. Unexplained weight loss (even though deserved).
4. Itching around the anus, especially if there is no rash.
5. Cramping and abdominal pain.
6. Loss of coordination or balance (a neurological response to systemic parasites).

To be even more specific, here are the signs and symptoms of four common parasitic infections:

Infection with the microscopic parasite Trichinella leads to trichinosis.  Folks get it by eating raw or undercooked meat from infected animals. 

Initial signs of trichinosis are diarrhea and abdominal cramping.  As the infection progresses over a week, symptoms may become more severe and include high fever, muscle pain, swelling of the eyelids or face, weakness, headache, light sensitivity and inflamed eye.

Hookworm infects 576-740 million worldwide and was once a common infection in the southeast U.S.  Infections have dropped because of improved living conditions. Hookworms are a type of helminth that you can get by walking barefoot on contaminated soil. 

Most with hookworm infections have no symptoms, but because its larvae can penetrate skin, an early sign of infection could be itchy rash (hives).  Digestive complaints may follow, with nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain that is worse after eating and increased flatulence. If infection persists, anemia and nutrient deficiencies may result.

Dientamoeba fragilis is a smaller parasite that lives in the large intestine.  It is likely related to orally contacting infected feces (another reason to wash hands before eating).  Acutely, diarrhea and stomach pain are common, with diarrhea being predominant, lasting 1-2 weeks.  Stools tend to be greenish brown and watery or sticky.  When chronic, abdominal pain  dominates, but there may be loss of appetite, weight, nausea, vomiting, bloating or gas.

The eggs produced by roundworms living in soil are transmitted to humans by swallowing. The eggs hatch into worms in the intestines, that result in pain and vomiting.  They can also travel via the blood to the lungs to cause wheezing and coughing.  The eggs can be transmitted via feces found in fields, streets and back yards.

Pinworms are small, thin, white round worms that commonly infect children but are so contagious that they may affect adults.  The worm's eggs may be carried to hands, toys, bedding, clothing and toilet seats and are ingested to cause infection. 

After an incubation of at least 1-2 months, the main symptom of pinworms is anal itching, which tends to be especially bad at night.  Scotch tape on the anus can make these nematode worms more visible.  Disturbed sleep (night grinding of teeth or nightmares) and/or abdominal pain may also result.

Most with protozoal giardiasis have only minor GI symptoms but are really ill with muscle pain, muscle weakness, flu-like feelings, sweats and enlarged lymph nodes.  In fact, 61% of fatigued patients with giardiasis had been diagnosed elsewhere as suffering from chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction. 

Many are given the 'descriptive' diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome by experts.  GI problems usually have more than one cause.  Toxicity with lack of beneficial bacteria invites intestinal parasites which creates food intolerance and imbalanced immunity.  These conditions are not mutually exclusive. 

Innate, inflammation-based immunity is the first line of defense against micro-organisms. Inflammation relies on a number of cellular and molecular effectors that can strike invading pathogens quickly after the encounter between immune cells and the intruder, but in a non-specific way. 

Because of this non-specificity, inflammation can generate big costs for the host, via the linked oxygen-based damage.  Many parasites (including the agents of malaria, Chagas' disease and schistosomiasis) are more susceptible to ROS than their hosts.

Malarial infection induces the generation of hydroxyl radical (OH·), which induces oxidative stress and apoptosis. There is a oxidative stress induced-mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis in hepatic dysfunction in malaria.

Glabridin induces oxidative stress mediated apoptosis like cell death of malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.  Glabridin is a polyphenolic flavonoid, a main part of the roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra (licorish).

Intra-macrophage amoebic parasite Leishmania (cutaneous leishmaniasis gets to 1,500,000 annually) inhibits oxidative burst-mediated macrophage apoptosis to protect its niche for survival and replication. 

Artemisia annua has been used by Chinese herbalists for two thousand years to treat many illnesses, from skin diseases to malaria.

Artemisia L. (Astraceae) is large and widely distributed. These are perennial, biennial and annual herbs. Artemisias contain monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids, coumarins, sterols and polyacetylenes.  Different artemisias include cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory activity.

Echinacea is also an asteracae. Echinacea is helpful in any acute infection, including the urinary tract and intestinal tract. It is used in acute and chronic hepatitis C infections and is also effective against bacteria, viruses, parasites and protozoa.

The eclectic medical movement lasted until the early 1900’s (before antibiotics) used mostly angustifolia. The alkyamides are the most active, not the polysaccharides as was previously thought.  The Eclectics found Echinacea to be very helpful in treating cholera, bacterial meningitis, dysentery and gangrene. 

Echinacea root tincture is a powerful ally to the white blood cells, enormously helping in their efforts.  Echinacea can clear infections that even triple antibiotic therapies leave untouched, including bacterial pneumonia, bronchitis, sinus infections, strep throat, mastitis and blood poisoning. 

A dose of Echinacea root tincture is 1 drop for every 2 pounds of body weight.  It can be taken as frequently as every hour or two in the acute phase of an infection, and the time between doses can be increased slowly until they are eight hours apart.  A large dose of Echinacea root tincture can produce spectacular results. But to use so much, you need a lot. It is expensive, running $8-10 per ounce. Large bottles bring the price down.  However, one can make it for $1-2 dollars per ounce.

Our immune system is under chronic siege. There are many factors confusing the immune system including civilization, bacteria, yeasts, viruses and parasites.

Biofilms are invisible and often contain stealth pathogens.  Some live and feast in our red blood cells and some even live in our immune cells, using various subversive tricks to survive. 

These biofilms stimulate auto-immune responses, secretly causing many diseases: Crohn’s disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Ulcerative Colitis, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, Ankylosing Spondylitis, Myasthenia Gravis and there are hundreds more authoritative descriptive diagnoses (each with fund-raising groups). 

In auto-immune diseases the innate immunity is compromised stimulating an overactive acquired immunity called auto-immune disease. Echinacea supports the innate immunity of the body therefore preventing autoimmunity. 

Stimulating innate immunity also prevents cancers, slows aging and prevents respiratory infections.  It can take up to two weeks for the deeper anti-inflammatory aspects of Echinacea to work. Echinacea stimulates bone marrow to increase natural killer (NK) cell function and number.

Artemisinin has a sesquiterpene lactone with an unusual peroxide bridge, and it is thought that when the peroxide comes into contact with high iron concentrations (common in parasites and cancerous cells), the molecule becomes unstable and releases ROS.

Artemisinin is also effective against schistosomes (blood flukes), the second-biggest parasitic infection, after malaria.  Artemisinin (and its derivatives) are all potent anthelmintics.  Artemisinins also are active against many trematodes, pneumocystis carnii (a cause of pneumonia in AIDS), toxoplasma gondii (parasite), cytomegalovirus, herpes virus and hepatitis C and B.

Heme (Fe2+ protoporphyrin IX) is essential and causes the potent antimalarial action of artemisinin, although the source and nature of the heme remain controversial. 

Dosing is at about 7 mg/kg a day of body weight for the artemisinin from Holley and about 4 mg/kg a day for the artesunate from Hepalin/Wellcare. 

Initial and continuation dosing:

7 days on (artemisinin plus artesunate)
7 days off (no usage)
7 days on
21 days off
3 days on
27 days off (about a month)
3 days on
27 days off (about a month)
(Continue the "3 days on, 27 days off" as maintenance).

Because of its short half-life, divide doses and take artesmisin the last thing before bed and early in the morning. Take both artemisinin and artesunate at least four times a day. 

Take both artemisinin and artesunate with something that has fat (whole milk, eggs, oils, peanut butter, butter, cheese or meat).  One could also drink a few ounces of water.  Butyrate (a short-chain fatty acid) is made when bacteria ferment carbohydrates undigestible by our enzymes and it potentiates artemesinin.

Artemesinin works by super-oxidizing "active" iron.  Supplemental antioxidants within 4-12 hours of artemisinin or artesunate may interfere. This includes vitamins C, D, E and A.  It also includes multivitamins and powerful food antioxidants like blueberries. 

Taking artemisinin with iron or foods that have been artificially supplemented with ferrous (many cereals and most organic/inorganic flour) may interfere.  Iron in food is typically well-chelated and does not react to artesmisinin.

Iron accumulates in cancerous cells due to transferrin receptors that help in cell division.  Normal cells have these receptors too, but cancerous cells have more, and can be targeted by the iron-artemisinin combination, like a 1-2 punch.  When paired with iron, sweet wormwood can eradicate almost all cancer.

Artemisinin disruption of E2F1 transcription factor expression mediates the cell cycle arrest of human breast cancer cells.  Drugs that work by enhancing oxygen radical effects like doxorubicin can enhance artemisinin.

For malaria, there is no resistance nor toxicity at 3 grams (about 50mg/kg) administered over a 3-5 days. Artemisinin is especially useful in the treatment of drug resistant malaria.

Besides iron-rich parasites, artemisinins also are selectively cytotoxic to cancer cells (which sequester iron for rapid growth and also make less SOD.  Host hormesis is also induced by intermittent ROS created by hyperbaric oxygen, hydrogen peroxide, ozone and IVC (potentiated by coenzyme Q10 and lipoid acid).  

Artemisinin also tells cancer, defective and virally infected cells to commit apoptosis.  Whether artemisinin actually kills HPV-infected cells is open to doubt.  Papillomas may still recur, though the overall virulence of the virus seems greatly reduced.

Using artemisinin to treat malaria is not approved in the U.S. due to its 21% recrudescent rate.  This is likely due to not taking the compound for a long period.  Many stop it as soon as symptoms subside. 

Inflammation either activates or resolves.  There are benefits and costs of inflammation. Resolution of inflammation maintains homeostasis against oxidative stress and prevents the toxic effect of chronic inflammation. 

Host immune regulation is a way for pathogens to subvert defenses.  Quantifying inflammatory costs requires assessing (i) short-term negative effects, (ii) delayed inflammation-driven diseases, and (iii) parasitic strategies to subvert inflammation.

Our immune system's main weapon is oxidative nitrogen species, mysteriously regulated by a gas (NO) created by three enzymes.  

Aggressive cancer cells act as parasites that actually use oxidative stress to extract nutrients.  Pathogenic biofilm thrives on inciting inflammation.  In parasitic nematodes, antioxidant enzymes are important defenses against oxidative stress.

Oxygen toxicity is universal.  Redox enzymes are very nonspecific, transferring electrons when they contact any good acceptor. This is a problem for aerobic organisms, since molecular oxygen is small enough to penetrate all but the most shielded active sites of redox enzymes. 

Adventitious electron transfers to oxygen create the ROS, superoxide and hydrogen peroxide.  ROS can oxidize biomolecules with which oxygen itself reacts poorly. 

We have little understanding of how ROS are formed inside cells and the ways they damage specific target molecules or tell cells to perform levels of apoptosis. 

Artemesinin inhibits nitric oxide synthesis and is effective in brain malaria. There are few problems with side effects and it is generally safe for children.

The vulnerability of cells to oxidation lies at the root of obligate anaerobiosis, spontaneous mutagenesis, and the use of oxidative stress as a biological weapon.