While researches on the history of the human race continue, studies on the living things in our bodies continue. A new study published in the journal Nature provided important information about a parasite that lived in our bodies hundreds of years ago. Moreover, this information emerged thanks to the toilets used by the Vikings.
Scientists who examined the toilets used by the Vikings 2,500 years ago, offered important clues about one of the oldest known parasites that lived in our body. The parasite in question was the whipworm (Trichuris trichiura), which is still seen today.
The parasite has lived with humans for 55 thousand years:
This creature, which is a parasitic worm, continues to cause tricuriasis infection in many people today. As a result of their investigation, scientists discovered that this species, which can cause serious effects, has lived with humans for at least 55,000 years. This discovery was made possible thanks to the eggs of these wolves found in Viking excrement.
Whipworm eggs pass into human feces and remain in the soil and can enter people’s systems by consuming the water in the area. A female whipworm, which can live for an average of one year, can lay up to 20,000 eggs a day. Therefore, hundreds of thousands of these eggs can be released into nature every year thanks to only one female.
On the other hand, eggs can survive for many years thanks to their durability when they are in the soil. Eggs taken from fossil human feces in the soil were also able to preserve their DNA structure, thanks to their durability. Within the scope of the study, a total of 17 eggs were examined under the microscope.
The results also showed that the parasites did not adapt to the opposite of the human body, but adapted new ways to live with the body. In this way, the parasites were not detected by the human body and could infect as many people as possible by living and reproducing longer.
The parasite in question is now extremely rare in industrialized areas such as cities. But the parasite continues to spread, especially in poor areas.
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