A case of ascariasis

Vanessa was an elegant young woman who reminded me of a young Lauren Bacall. It was obvious from her appearance that she felt unwell. Her complexion was pasty. There were bruised-looking smudges under her eyes and I could smell stale wafts of breath as she spoke. “I’ve had intermittent bouts of vomiting,” she told me. They come and go and I haven’t been able to associate them with anything I’ve eaten. My stomach feels blown up and quite uncomfortable.” As she spoke, she occasionally coughed — wheezy, transient episodes that appeared to leave her rather breathless.

I noticed that, as she spoke, her left lower eyelid developed a nervous tic. She was obviously uncomfortably aware of this as her hand kept straying to her face in an attempt to mask the twitching. Suddenly, Vanessa laughed in a discomfited manner — she had obviously seen my eyes stray to her face with each movement of her hand. “I’m rather prone to nervous twitches,” she sighed. “It makes me feel very self-conscious. My nose also can become unbearably itchy at times so that I always seem to be rubbing my face somewhere. It’s so annoying.”

Vanessa’s case history and a thorough check-up revealed quite a list of seemingly minor yet revealing pieces of information. Although she was slender to the point of being thin, Vanessa admitted to a ravenous appetite that was hard to satisfy. She felt the urge to pass urine quite frequently. “I’m a bit of a joke in the family,” she said sheepishly. “I have a reputation for knowing the location of every public toilet within an hour’s drive of home.”

Vanessa was not a good sleeper. Her nights were invariably restless and often sweaty. “Even in winter I tend to stick my feet out of bed to cool off,” she told me. She also blushingly revealed that her bottom was often intensely itchy and irritated and that scratching brought little relief. “And I grind my teeth at night,” she added. “My dentist is quite worried at the damage I’m doing. I’m aware that I often tend to clench my teeth tightly, especially when I’m feeling edgy or stressed.”

Tests revealed that Vanessa had a major problem with malabsorption across the board: vitamin levels were low, especially fat-soluble nutrients, carbohydrate digestion was inefficient and there were many indications of inadequate amino acid metabolism. The only other major findings were a raised eosinophil level and history of childhood asthma.

Looking at her pale face, I could only reach one conclusion. “Vanessa, I’m pretty sure you’re suffering from a case of chronic worm infestation — almost certainly the round worm, ascaris.” The poor lass looked shocked and horrified. “Do you have any pets at home?” I asked. “Oh yes, our family has always loved animals and we’ve usually got at least two or three cats and dogs,” Vanessa replied.

“Well, that’s one way worm eggs may be brought inside a house. It’s hard to imagine a life without the love of a pet but they can easily carry parasites into the home.” In my experience, 20 per cent of the pet-owning population suffers from a range of worms and other opportunists. Any pet can bring worms into a home. Carpet fibres make excellent worm-egg traps and the eggs are easily inhaled when they are disturbed by ordinary household activities.

Fruits and vegetables are additional sources of contamination. I’m not a fan of the self-service trend in greengrocers and supermarkets. There are hundreds of fingers squeezing and picking over produce and who knows where those fingers have been? Fruits and vegetables can be tainted with traces of animal manure and worm eggs are sticky and hard to wash off.

Hepatitis A outbreaks occur from time to time due to faecal contamination, although these days restaurant staff are supposed to wear disposable gloves when handling meal ingredients. Last summer, I was almost sick when I stood next to a young girl who was stuffing cherries into a bag while swiping snot off her runny nose between grabs into the fruit pile. I always shudder when I see people “testing” an unwashed grape for sweetness before buying.

Vanessa was advised to make all family members very conscious of hygiene around pets. It seems trite to recommend hand washing before eating, but I’ve seen many pet owners forget to do so, while others rely on regular pet worming to protect themselves and their furry companions.

Worm medicines, or vermifuges, can be rather toxic agents and even harmful if administered in too large a dose. Basically, the best approach to preventing this problem is careful attention to hygiene.

Vanessa’s regime consisted of the following measures:

• Three days of very small, light meals, with heavy emphasis on regular snacks of freshly shucked pumpkin seeds interspersed with cloves of raw garlic and black mission figs.
• Bromelain and pancreatic enzymes accompanied each meal
• Botanical worm-removers included Juglans nigra tea, Inula helenium seeds, Artemesia absinthum oil massaged into the inside of wrists and Picraena excelsa footbaths.
• Soaked, biodynamic, oil-free raisins are helpful as the sweetness lures burrowed worms out of hiding, which makes expulsion easier.
• Ginger is very useful. The anisakis worm is one of the nastiest parasites in the world. This dangerous but common worm is picked up from raw fish. The Japanese accompany their sashimi with pickled ginger. The latter is such an effective vermifuge that, in one study, ginger immobilised over 90 per cent of anisakis larvae within four hours and completely destroyed them in 16 hours. Pickled ginger can be bought from most Asian food stores.
• Peppery-tasting pawpaw seeds were chewed at intervals – about a dozen at a time.
• Organic freeze-dried turmeric powder is always on my worming programs. Curcuma longa contains four compounds that effectively fight parasites.
• A pinch of powdered cloves added to a glass of fresh pineapple juice is a must for all intestinal worms. The addition of a dash of pure prune juice helps add a gentle laxative effect to dislodge worms.

Vanessa rang me shortly after starting her regime. She found the garlic cloves hard to cope with. A satisfactory solution was reached by blending the cloves into a large glass of fresh carrot juice with a teaspoon of organic cream. Sipped at regular intervals, this drink was acceptable.

It’s amazing what a difference a good worm-cleanse can make. Within weeks, Vanessa’s gaunt body had rounded out pleasingly. She was no longer clenching her teeth or feeling the urge to scratch her anus. The eye tic had vanished, she was sleeping well and there was a diminishing urge to visit every toilet away from home.