I have seen this tiny, microscopic parasite in quite a lot of clients, and there is no doubt it causes quite a few problems.

According to the medical literature, D. fragilis is hard to detect in regular stool tests. The private, specialty labs don’t appear to have this problem, however as both the labs I use frequently find this parasite.

There isn’t very much scientific literature on D. fragilis compared with the likes of Giardia and Entameba histolytica, which is one of the reasons why doctors don’t really recognize this bad bug as a problem.

Transmission

D. fragilis is very fragile (hence its name). It doesn’t survive long outside the intestine. Because of this, we don’t really know how might well be transmitted inside pinworm eggs.

These two infections occur simultaneously more often than could be expected, and D. fragilis organisms are visible inside pinworm eggs.

CLINICAL FEATURES

The main symptoms of D. fragilis are dubiously similar to the ones passed of in doctor’s offices as “IBS”.

They include:

• Abdominal pain
• Abdominal cramping
• Loose stools
• Diarrhea
• Bloating
• Flatulence
• Nausea
• Pruritus (skin problem around the rectum)
• Fatigue

A wide variety of other symptoms have also been reported by some patients, in some scientific studies. .

When patients’ appendixes are removed are examined in studies after acute appendicitis, a large proportion contain D. fragilis parasites, as well as pinworms.

As such, it’s believed both organisms may contribute to this common problem.

Confusion over symptoms

As you’ve seen, even a parasite like D. fragilis, that’s not really considered to be a problem by medical doctors has the potential to cause lots of common, every day symptoms.

But so can other things, like the food you eat (e.g. gluten, soy, cow’s milk), and other bad bugs such as different parasites, bacteria and Candida.

Thus, you can’t possibly know what’s causing your individual symptoms unless you take action to change your diet and get a comprehensive digestive health work-up.

Of course, I’m biased, but I wouldn’t be here teaching you this information had I not gone through the Digestive MOT process myself way back in 2007 with my functional medicine doctor.

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Your digestive system is the gateway to the rest of your body and it’s going to be very tough for you to sustain an acceptable level of health (and quality of life) if your digestive system isn’t working properly.

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