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Cambridge University researcher Tianyi Wang said roundworm was the most common infection, but whipworm infection was also found.

Petrified roundworm and whipworm eggs suggest that Roman-era and late medieval Brits were most likely to be plagued with these pests.

“I had three separate bouts of malaria, I had amoebic dysentery, whipworm … And at the end of my time, I got hepatitis from contaminated water. I was in a clinic for over a week and really in pretty bad shape. So I limped home.”

The Shuar she interviewed all lived in environments with many pathogens, such as roundworm, whipworm, and tuberculosis.

The researchers then analyzed the DNA in those samples, looking for genetic traces of two of the most common types of parasitic worms endemic in many countries today: the whipworm Trichuris trichiura, and the hookworm belonging to the genus Ascaris.