A comparative study of parasites in three latrines from Medieval and Renaissance Brussels, Belgium (14th–17th centuries)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the species of parasite that infected the population of Brussels during the Medieval and Renaissance periods, and determine if there was notable variation between different households within the city. We compared multiple sediment layers from cesspits beneath three different latrines dating from the 14th–17th centuries. Helminths and protozoa were detected using microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). We identified Ascaris sp., Capillaria sp., Dicrocoelium dendriticum, Entamoeba histolytica, Fasciola hepatica, Giardia duodenalis, Taenia sp. and Trichuris sp. in Medieval samples, and continuing presence of Ascaris sp., D. dendriticum, F. hepatica, G. duodenalis and Trichuris sp. into the Renaissance. While some variation existed between households, there was a broadly consistent pattern with the domination of species spread by fecal contamination of food and drink (whipworm, roundworm and protozoa that cause dysentery). These data allow us to explore diet and hygiene, together with routes for the spread of fecal–oral parasites. Key factors explaining our findings are manuring practices with human excrement in market gardens, and flooding of the polluted River Senne during the 14th–17th centuries.

Towards the comprehension of fasciolosis (re-)emergence: an integrative overview

“…Nevertheless, even when records of the parasite in humans became more evident after their description in the 14th century, fasciolosis was traditionally (and unfortunately still is) considered a veterinary disease. For instance, whereas infection of human European population with Fasciola parasites during medieval and Renaissance periods is accountable today through paleoparasitological studies (Graff et al ., 2020), by late 19th century, the following statement by Wilson (1879): ‘cases of its occurrence as a human parasite were by no means plentifully met with either in purely medical records on the one hand, or in helminthological treatises on the other’, clearly reflects that fasciolosis has been largely overlooked in humans. However, in the 20th century, this zoonosis began to acquire a new connotation within the scientific community due to indistinctive reports of significant numbers of infected people and/or epidemic outbreaks from different regions of the world.…”

Population genomics of ancient and modernTrichuris trichiura

“…Although now generally restricted to tropical and subtropical regions 1 , this parasite was once a globally distributed worm. Parasite eggs have been found in human coprolites (fossilised faeces) from archaeological sites dated back to 7,100 BC [9][10][11] , including sites in Europe and North America where autochthonous infections are now unusual [12][13][14][15][16] . However, whipworms are known to infect a broad range of mammals; over 70 species have been described within the genus Trichuris, and while generally host-specific, cross-host species transmission of individual parasite species have been reported, including between humans and pigs 17 , humans and dogs 18 , or humans and non-human primates [19][20][21][22][23] .…”