Hi SoSick, I think humans have always had parasites. The difference is now we tend to ignore that fact whereas in the past it was common to do cleanses a couple of times year. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/takingpills.gif" alt="" />

I am currently reading a book called 'wild health - how animals keep themselves well and what we can learn from them;. There is a whole chapter on parasites. Many wild animals have methods of dealing with parasites and will actually self medicate. Eg gorillas will eat certain compounds that are harmful to parasites when they have them. I think it was Jane Goodall that observed chimpanzees ingesting large quantities of indigestible leaves - the leaves have tiny hooks which actually grab hold of certain parasites and pull them from the body! Birds line their nests with parasite-resistant herbs in the wild. It's a fascinating book and yes we can learn a lot from animals and how they maintain their health in their natural environment. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bird.gif" alt="" /><img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/chickflutter.gif" alt="" />

Domesticated animals or wild animals that are in captivity get sicker a lot more often than wild animals in their natural environment. Obviously there are many many reasons for this but one is because they do not have access to the substances they would use to self medicate in the wild. Successive generations also loose this knowledge because it is not innate but passed down by the animals parents through observation.

Humans also had ways of dealing with parasites and regular parasite cleanses, but as we know modern medicine isn't so great on the preventative side of things. We are like the domesticated animals <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cow.gif" alt="" /> - we have lost the wisdom and knowledge about natural healing that would have otherwise been passed down through generations. No longer is our health information based on many hundreds or even thousands of years of knowledge and experience that are passed down through generations. Instead most people now have very little knowledge and so are reliant on doctors and pharmaceutical drugs. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/looney.gif" alt="" />