One of the great myths of the past two centuries is the one about how you must travel to a third world country to get parasites. For Americans, Mexico usually gets the brunt of the finger-pointing. However, the myth is only a fable.

Where-ever you are on the globe, if you breathe the air, eat the food, or drink the water, you probably are getting parasites constantly. While it is highly unlikely anyone is going to knowingly eat a three foot long tape worm, those who have had this problem, will tell you it is no laughing matter. Such worms do exist and some do exist in someone's intestine.

A second myth is that all parasites are worms and visible. Neither is true. Parasites come in an almost infinite variety and most are microscopic. Being small does not make them less dangerous and it does make them easier to get. Many are floating in the air and you can get them by merely inhaling in an area where they are prevalent. Your air filter will eliminate a lot of them, but not all. Cigarette smoke gets through your filter and its particles are larger than many of the parasites.

Many of the parasites that are common and very widespread are those that you do not inhale or ingest. You ingest the eggs and they hatch out in your intestine. A notorious source of such parasite eggs is iceberg lettuce. The lettuce grows as a lot of loose leaves that later close into the familiar "head of lettuce" with the insect eggs that have been laid on the leaves carefully folded inside. You can't see the eggs. You can't get to both sides of each leaf to wash the eggs off. You can stop eating iceberg lettuce or you can plane to eliminate parasites on a regular basis. A quarterly elimination routine is recommended.

Lettuce is not the only food that serves up parasites and parasite eggs to you. Many meats, vegetables, and fruits are carriers of both. Example, Trichinosis is a worm you get from eating pork, bear meat, and several other wild animals. They can be killed by thorough cooking as they cannot withstand enormous temperatures. This is not true of all parasites. Note this one, though, because the result of getting this parasite is not only extremely painful, it is very serious, even deadly.

We have only recently begun to see publicized that there are also parasites that are found in far too many birds we normally eat without much thought of danger.

Before panic, just keep in mind that this is not new with our century. This has been the plight of mankind since the beginning of time. What you will need to do is find a good parasite killer, of which there are many in the herbal and health food stores, and plan to go on a removal protocol regularly. The other thing you can do is lose the attitude that Americans do not have parasites.

Author: Dr. Dennis Raney, N.D. This is a serious, but normal health matter. For a more serious matter, and a lot more information, see my website, www.survivingprostatecancer.com.

Dennis Raney, ND, CNHP, CNC. MS from Univ. of Texas at Dallas. Nationally Certified Naturopathic Doctor. I worked mover ten years as a naturopathic doctor.