Medieval Augustinian Friars Found to be Infected by Intestinal Parasites; Infection May Have Benn Caused by Poor Sanitation

A new analysis of remnants from medieval Cambridge recently revealed that local Augustinian friars were nearly double the city's general population to be infected by intestinal parasites.

This is despite most of the Augustinian monasteries of the era "having latrine blocks and hand-washing facilities," unlike the ordinary working people's houses, a EurekAlert! report specified.

The University of Cambridge's Department of archeology researchers said the difference in parasitic infection might be down to monks manuring crops in friary gardens using their feces, or buying fertilizer that contained pig or even human excrement.

The analysis is the first to compare the prevalence of parasites in people from the same medieval community who lived different lifestyles and so might have differed in their risk of infection.

Infected by Worms

Essentially, medieval Cambridge's population comprised residents of monasteries, friaries, and nunneries of numerous major Christian orders, along with traders, craftsmen, merchants, farmers, laborers, and staff and students at the early university.

In this research published in the International Journal of Paleontology, archeologists at Cambridge examined samples of soil taken from around the adult remains from the former cemetery of All Saints by the Castle parish church and the grounds. On this site, the Augustinian Friary of the city once stood.

Most of the parish church burials dated between the 12 and 14th centuries, and those interred within were mainly of lower socioeconomic status, especially agricultural laborers.

The study investigators analyzed 19 monks from the friary grounds and 25 locals from All Saints cemetery. As a result, they discovered that 11 or 58 percent of the friars were infected by worms, compared with only eight or 32 percent of the general townspeople.

32-Percent Prevalence of Parasites

The archeologists also said that such rates are possibly the minimum and that actual numbers of infections would have been higher, although some traces of worm eggs in the pelvic sediment would have been killed over time by insects and fungi.

The 32-percent prevalence of parasites among townspeople, along with analyses of medieval burials in other European nations, suggest this is not specifically low, although the infection rates in the monastery were exceptionally high.

According to Dr. Piers MItchel, the study lead from Cambridge's Department of Archeology, the friars of medieval Cambridge seem to have been riddled with parasites.

This is the first time anyone has tried to work out how common parasites were in humans following different lifestyles in the same medieval town.

Parasites Brought by Poor Sanitation

Cambridge's Tianyi Wang, a researcher who did the microscopy to detect the parasite eggs, explained that roundworms were the most common infection, although they have found evidence for whipworm infection, too. "These are both spread by poor sanitation," explained the researcher.

Standard sanitation in medieval towns depended on the cesspit toilet. Holes on the ground, for instance, are used for feces and household waste.

Nonetheless, running water systems in monasteries were a common feature, which included rinsing out the latrine that, though it has yet to be confirmed at the said site, is only partially excavated.

Co-author Craig Cessford of the Cambridge Archeological Unit said the friars were buried wearing belts they put on regular clothing of order, and the metal buckles at excavation could be seen.

As whipworm and roundworm are spread by poor sanitation, the study investigators contend that the difference in infection rates between the general population and the friars must have been because of how each group dealt with their human waste, a similar Ancient Page report said.

Related information about medieval friar remains shown on The Atlantic's YouTube video below:

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