Top lab medical tests that could cost $400 for the detection of parasites, still diagnosed as negative. So, although there is a chance the lab test will catch the infection, the likelihood is that it won't. ( the major problem is that the parasites must not only be on the "list" the lab looks for, but also must be laying eggs when the samples are taken.)

Let's try to understand what a parasite does. A parasite eats, lays eggs and secretes. Ok? Let's break this down into the three parts: the first is "eats." Depending on the kind, parasites will eat different things. Many thrive off certain types of food, from dairy to sugar to proteins. These parasites live off the food that goes into your body. Mainly found in the digestive tract, they can also be found in the liver as well as throughout the body. No organ within your body is immune to parasites, in reality. Some parasites actually get their nutrition directly from the cells of the body, and feed off those cells, thus making you sick. They can literally attach themselves anywhere and suck nutrition out of the cells. These parasites are perhaps the most dangerous because they can travel to places in the body where they can do a lot more damage than a parasite living solely in the digestive tract.

Parasites rob you off all your finest nutrients and you get the scraps and leftovers. They grow healthy and fat while your body starves for nutrition. And these visitors can subside and exist in the human body for anywhere in the upwards of 10, 20 or even 30 years.

To illustrate the longevity of parasites in the human body, consider this example. In 1979 a British study reported on 600 former prisoners from World War II. These men had been stationed in the Far East. Thirty years after the war, 15% were still infected with a parasite called Strongyloides that they had contracted during the war. This means you could have eaten meat 10 years ago that was contaminated, and still be hosting the tapeworms or other types of parasites that were in that meat.

Let's now look at the way parasites reproduce - this is the "lays eggs" part. To start, let's examine the two main types of parasites and then discuss how each reproduces: Large parasites are visible and are primarily worms and small parasites, which are mainly microscopic in size, include what are called protozoa and amoebae.

Which is more dangerous? Despite their almost invisibility, small parasites can be extremely dangerous. Microscopic parasites can destroy calcium lining in your bones, eat the myecin lining off your nerve cells (causing breakdown of the brain-nerve connection) and even inhabit the liver, colon and other areas causing major discomforts and problems. The small parasites reproduce by duplicating themselves in a manner similar to bacteria or viral reproduction.

Large parasites, which are the worm type, can usually be seen by the naked eye. Sizes can exceed 15 inches long and normally these worms cannot/do not travel past the digestive tract. The smaller organisms, the protozoa and amoebas, tend to act like a bacteria by traveling through the blood stream to virtually any part of the body. They reproduce without laying eggs and behave more like an infection in the body than do the larger parasites. The larger parasites are worms which reproduce by laying eggs. Eggs are left in the intestinal tract, where they cling to the intestinal walls among the feces, and when they hatch, the young feed on the food that we eat and eventually grow into adults. The adults then repeat the process.

The third thing that parasites do is secrete toxins. Simply put, the secretions from parasites in our bodies are poisons and toxins that our bodies are forced to deal with by increasing the process of detoxification. Anyone who has experienced food poisoning or dysentery will tell you how debilitating these toxins can be. These are intense and very high levels of toxins being released into the body at once. On the other end, a chronic parasitic infection that secretes low levels of toxins can eventually create an extremely stressed immune system. When the immune system is stressed over a long period of time, it weakens. When the immune system "goes off line," our bodies become susceptible to infections of other kinds. This can be extremely dangerous in this day and age because we are more exposed to more viruses than ever before. Also, the viruses are changing and adapting at a very fast rate as are the bacteria, many of which are now resistant to antibiotics and other artificial measures that are used to combat them.

In addition, the antibiotics of today as well as any other drug of tomorrow can have a slightly different than intended effect. Once you have established that you do have parasites, taking drugs to get rid of them may not always work. This is because a drug will often drive a parasite from one organ of the body to another. It's like people moving to better climates to make their living conditions more pleasant, or birds flying south for the winter.

So, if we aren't able to combat the rising number of parasitic infections with conventional medicine, it is even more important to understand just how we can go about that process. First, let's look at what parasites do and how we sometimes unknowingly "help" them. Parasites tend to secrete toxins as they live within the human body, which, when coupled with other toxins (like alcohol, cigarettes, junk food, polluted air, etc) can lead to what is termed by many doctors as "toxic overload." Toxic overload comes about when the four primary cleaning systems of the body have been pushed too far by an overload of toxins in the body.

Within the four cleaning systems, the lungs, kidneys, skin and bowels, there are many types of overload that can occur. As an example, toxins will travel from one system to another as the current system gets overloaded. In toxic bowel syndrome, the excess of toxins in the bowels pass onto the liver and the liver becomes over clogged and the toxins begin to spill into the bloodstream. This can take a long time or can occur very quickly, depending on how the body and its immune system handles the overload. Parasites have an ability to cause a complete system breakdown, making them one of the most dangerous epidemics facing medicine today.

For the time being, the news isn't going to get much better, not only do 80-85% of all American adults have some form of parasite, not only are they hard to diagnose, not only can they cause serious damage internally (and often silently for a long period of time) they also come in many forms.

Here are a few of the different types of parasitic worms the body can acquire and be plagued by:

Tapeworms:

The fish tapeworm is the largest of the human tapeworms, reaching the length of 33 feet or more. There can be 3,000 to 4,000 segments in one worm. It can produce more than 1,000,000 eggs a day. This type of infestation can cause anemia because of interference with vitamin B12. Also, the weight challenges of some people can be directly attributed to tapeworms. This is especially true of weight loss programs that don't work. The person may be hosting a tapeworm which is eating all the food and making the person constantly hungry. Tapeworms can also cause water retention. Besides tapeworms from beet, pork and fish, there is also a type of dog tapeworm you can get when dogs lick your face or hands.

Pinworms:

Pinworms are very infectious and can cause a lot of itchiness in the anal area. The worms deposit their eggs mostly at night, contaminating pajamas and bed linen. The eggs are readily transported through the air, and it is not uncommon to find them in every room of the house.... Complications are much more common in women than in men. Pinworms can also be found in the vulva, uterus and fallopian tubes because the female worm loses her way while trying to return to the anus after depositing her eggs.

Roundworms:

Another type of roundworm that can be present in humans is whipworms. These insidious creatures actually inject a digestive fluid which converts the colon tissue into liquid which the worms suck up. A worm expert at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, estimated that the roundworm infects about 644 million people in the world. This was in the 1940s and there are no doubt a lot more people infected with roundworm now! Also nutritional deficiencies are seen in heavy roundworm infections.

Hookworms:

Hookworms bite and suck on the intestinal wall, which can cause bleeding and necrosis (death of the tissue). In severe infections, iron deficiency becomes a therapeutic problem because of all the iron that is lost to the hookworm. Hemoglobin levels as low as 15% of normal have been seen in patients with severe, long-standing hookworm disease. One species of hookworm in America is called "Necator Americanus," which means, "American Murderer."

Again, these are just a few types of parasites found within the human body, the list is much more extensive, but these are the most common. So, now we know what parasites do, how they reproduce, what damage they can cause and some of the types we can be infected with. So, that leaves the thoughts - "how do we catch parasites?" and "how do I get rid of these invaders?" First, let's go over how we catch parasites, and then we can more fully and knowledgeably discuss how to get rid of them.

How Do We Get Parasites?

Parasites can get into your system in many ways, some of them seemingly innocuous enough on their own. Anything from shaking hands to sharing somebody else's soda can - from kissing (even on the cheek) to intimate sexual contact and believe it or not, you can even pick up parasites by inhaling dust which contains the dried form of these organisms. You can get parasites from a variety of foods, especially undercooked meats. You can get parasites from many strains of water (giardia being the most common form of water borne parasitic infection.) You can even get parasites from unwashed or mishandled lettuce and other vegetables. No one is immune to the scourge of parasites.

The really discouraging thing about parasites is that they can not only be hard to get rid of, but also that you can easily be re-infected. Married couples tend to have them together; and when one person is treated for the parasitic infection, they are often re-infected by their spouse. It is extremely important that both be treated at the same time, and in many cases, the children should be treated along with their parents. Not only that, but it is important to be sure to stay on whatever cleansing program you take for at least the recommended time period and to NOT miss a single dosage. Parasites live because they are tenacious and stealthy - in order to knock them out, we have to be vigilant and perseverant.