In 1980, out of me came this 14 foot-long, living, moving worm. Turned out it was a tapeworm that I had gotten from eating raw or undercooked fi sh. Not a common parasite, but much more so than most doctors in the U.S. are aware of. Th is was my inspiration to specialize in the treatment of parasites and other pathogens that change the intestinal microbiome.

DIAGNOSIS: Parasites are more common in the U.S. than medical doctors realize—due to the limitations of medical education, and problems with the accuracy of lab diagnosis. Th e conventional medical belief is that parasites are a problem in the developing world, not “clean” America. However, in this country in 2002, the last fairly large study revealed that one-third of Americans have some type of intestinal parasite. I’d estimate, from my clinical experience over the decades, that it is closer to 50%.

I do not depend on the labs in the U.S. Some are better than others, but I have not found one in which I have real confidence. There is not space here to go into the reasons for this lack of accurate results, but I have spent many, many hours over the decades investigating why—and it is a perfect storm of several factors. Therefore, every week I send a refrigerated box of specimens to a world-class diagnostic lab in Africa that is funded by the World Health Organization to research emerging pathogens.

TREATMENT: Some “experts” believe that one can never really eliminate parasites. This has certainly not been my experience. I suspect that belief is due to ineffective therapeutic intervention —whether with drugs or natural medicines. Some drugs work well for certain parasites, some don’t. And they are all toxic to varying degrees. There are plenty of natural medicines available that claim to eliminate parasites. Most of those will work—but in a limited fashion, and may eliminate some of the easier to treat parasites but are not effective for tougher or more deeply embedded parasite infections.

I primarily use plant juices from equatorial Africa. They are very well tolerated by even the most sensitive people. And, they are surprisingly effective. I have used these since 1988 with excellent results.

MICROBIOME: The human microbiome is astounding and essential to health. A microbiome is the microorganisms in a particular environment. The U.S. National Institutes of Health initiated the Human Microbiome Project, a $115 million, five-year study that was launched in 2008. Here’s what was discovered. The average person is made of approximately 100 trillion cells, of which only 10 trillion are human and the other 90 trillion are microbes! Of those microbes, about 80 trillion inhabit your digestive system. They are essential for digestion, your immune system, and so much more. Current medical opinion is that up to 80% of the immune system is provided by the intestines. The ultimate goal of this and similar NIH-sponsored microbiome projects was to test how changes in the human microbiome are associated with human health/disease. This topic is currently not well understood. However, its importance is huge and parasites, unhealthy bacteria and yeast have a very negative impact on the microbiome.

PREVENTION: I educate my patients about how to avoid getting parasites, unhealthy bacteria and yeast. The reality of how easy it is to get infected is daunting. Quick advise: these pathogens are in water, on food, on pets and shared among people. If you call the clinic and provide your name and email address, we’ll send you the article I wrote on parasite prevention.