In the middle ages, humans couldn't get away from lice. They were an unavoidable part of their life and lice didn't discriminate; they infected all parts of society from serfs to royals. People in the Middle Ages took lice to their grave as well.
Medieval folklore suggests that lard was used to try and suffocate lice and nits off of a scalp. Others propose simply keeping the hair combed through and clean was of so little a priority that no one even bothered with lice.
They also chose to sleep naked between linen bedsheets that were regularly changed for the same reason. Today we associate lice and fleas with dirt. Medieval people were no different, except for one small detail. They thought lice, fleas, and other parasites spontaneously generated from dirt.
So worms were treated using bitter, purgative plants such as wormwood or gentian, which would both kill the worms and expel them by provoking a nasty bout of diarrhoea.
Common diseases were dysentery, malaria, diphtheria, flu, typhoid, smallpox and leprosy. Most of these are now rare in Britain, but some diseases, like cancer and heart disease, are more common in modern times than they were in the Middle Ages.
The plague was one of the biggest killers of the Middle Ages – it had a devastating effect on the population of Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries. Also known as the Black Death, the plague (caused by the bacterium called Yersinia pestis) was carried by fleas most often found on rats.
In medieval times, syphilis and gonorrhoea were two of the most prevalent STDs in Europe. One theory suggest that syphilis was spread by crew members who picked up the disease on the voyages led by Christopher Columbus.
Summary: 'Coprolites' from the Must Farm archaeological excavation in East Anglia, UK, shows the prehistoric inhabitants were infected by parasitic worms that can be spread by eating raw fish, frogs and shellfish.
The earliest known parasite in a human was eggs of the lung fluke found in fossilized feces in northern Chile and is estimated to be from around 5900 BC. There are also claims of hookworm eggs from around 5000 BC in Brazil and large roundworm eggs from around 2330 BC in Peru.
As there was no knowledge of germs or how diseases spread in the Middle Ages, the Church explained away illness as 'divine retribution' for leading a sinful life. Common diseases in the Middle Ages included dysentery ('the flux'), tuberculosis, arthritis and 'sweating sickness' (probably influenza).
The daily wash usually involved collecting water in a ewer, heating it, then pouring it into a large basin to be used for scrubbing. Baths in a wooden tub would happen less often, given it was a world without plumbing.
When Victorians were infested with head lice they would visit the local bathhouse to receive an arsenic and quicklime treatment. During this treatment the different chemicals would burn off the hair weather it is on their head or the entire body.
Medieval folks loved a bath, though it was a little more work than it is today with the marvels of modern plumbing. Laborers, who made up most of the population, probably used ewers and shallow washbasins. Castle dwellers might have access to a wooden tub, with water heated by a fire.
The homes of the poor were small, cold and damp and often infested with lice and vermin. Water would be collected from a dirty pump in the street and filthy outdoor toilets would be shared with dozens of neighbours.
You may never know where your case of lice came from, but it started when either a pregnant louse or two live bugs made their way to your human head through head-to-head contact with another human head hosting an active case. If you just have eggs, then there was at one time one pregnant louse on your head.
Ancient Head Lice Treatments
If you became infested with head lice, the Egyptians treated themselves with an aromatic head lice formula made of water, vinegar, oil of cinnamon, oil of rosemary, oil of terebinth. They would treat ancient head lice with the formula and use a fine tooth comb.
Parasites exist, and it is estimated that the majority of people may have parasites in their bodies.
Once infected, a person carries Toxoplasma for life. So far, we don't have a drug that can eradicate the parasite from the body. And there is no vaccine approved for use in humans. Across the world, it's estimated 30–50 percent of people are infected with Toxoplasma – and infections may be increasing in Australia.
gondii is arguably the most successful protozoan parasite on Earth. The parasite can only undergo sexual reproduction in the cat intestine, where the parasite forms zygote-containing cysts, called oocysts, which are shed in cat faeces (see diagram, below).
Humans evolved from a five-centimetre-long worm-like creature that wriggled in the sea more than 500 million years ago, scientists have learned. The extinct Pikaia gracilens has been confirmed as the oldest known member of the chordate family, which includes all modern vertebrates including humans.
Humans were eaten by giant hyenas, cave bears, cave lions, eagles, snakes, other primates, wolves, saber-toothed cats, false saber-toothed cats, and maybe even—bless their hearts—giant, predatory kangaroos.
There would be negative effects on biodiversity as the number of species dwindled. Host populations could also overrun an area just like cane toads, and with too many individuals and too little food to support them all, the population would cave in on itself.
Imperial Rome had many noteworthy diseases, ranging from sexually transmitted diseases to catastrophic plagues.
Various Roman physicians described STIs in their books, including symptoms of urethritis, genital lesions, and anogenital warts (called 'figs') on the 'partes obscenes.
The first well-recorded European outbreak of what is now known as syphilis occurred in 1494 when it broke out among French troops besieging Naples in the Italian War of 1494–98.