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SapporoChristoday at 4:49 PM1 replyview on HN

CDC estimates about 60 million are effected by parasites in USA. which is about 17 or 18%.

Gut cleanse, colon cleanse, detoxing. None of this is supported by science. Nor would any of these things cure, prevent or in anyway help a parasitic infection.

Here are some common parasitic infections and how they're treated. None of these treatments recommend gut cleanse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardia#Infection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii#Treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascariasis#Treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hookworm_infection#Treatment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinworm_infection#Treatment

Gut inflammation can be a problem, but I would not recommend treating it or even diagnosing it without evidence.


Replies

cmcaleertoday at 5:10 PM

Gut cleanses are probably stupid but I wonder if people would benefit from taking antiparasitics prophylactically. It's not something I've ever done, but I eat sashimi pretty regularly and wonder if I should take something like praziquantel because I'm probably at risk for Japanese broad tapeworm, and the symptoms are mild enough I can't really tell without testing, but the price of actually testing is much higher than just taking a drug with a great safety profile.

For similar reasons, I also wonder about people who consume raw milk. These people are more likely to endorse ivermectin for e.g. covid, because it made them feel much better. Maybe it's possible these people aren't lying about that, but not because it cured their covid.