Halloween Candy Parasites Spread in Roman Public Baths and Toilets

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Ancient Rome, in history, was a place of civilized people and was also a civilized oasis in a barbaric world in the past. With Roman's modern infrastructure developed, they had fountains good for drinking as well as latrines and public baths. However, the spread of parasites called Halloween Candy even though they kept themselves clean was still inevitable.

According to Apex Tribune, scientists compared the Roman human burial sites as well as the fossilized feces and ancient latrines with those during the Iron Age. The result was surprising because the number of the aforementioned intestinal parasites was larger during ancient Roman times, and this increased dramatically as time passed by.

A paleopathologist at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and one of the authors of the study, Dr. Piers Mitchell, said that the spreading of these parasites was the result of ancient laws, which required the residents to remove rubbish and excrement from their towns. He also added that these wastes were used to fertilize some crops and contaminated them.

As reported by The New York Times, Roman practices then affected health, with the evidence of parasites in ancient latrines, fossilized feces, human burial sites, and textiles combed from the excavation sites across Europe. These practices were assessed through the said evidence found in the above mentioned excavation sites.

From the few decades, Dr. Mitchell analyzed this literature that studies ancient Roman sites to look for diseases and parasites, as noted by BABW News. His results expected to have a drop of the number of these parasites; however, there wasn't any at all. It was then speculated that the spread was due to improper cleanliness plan, hauling process, and composting time. By these, parasites were transferred to the growing plants, returned to the city as food, and consumed by the people. Hence, people eating these infested food would become infected or re-infected with these parasites.

Moreover, Romans were also fond of using a fish sauce called "garum" that was merely fermented in the sun and was not cooked that could have destroyed tapeworms and other parasites. These fish tapeworm eggs were found in the sauce, as found by the study, which was reported in the journal called Parasitology. And it was said that this fish sauce was used for dipping bread into and was traded across the Roman empire. In addition, Roman ships that have sunk have been discovered to carry a number of jars that contained garum in them.