Investigate old cesspools: Brussels residents from the 14th to 17th centuries were plagued by diarrhea

That was different in the not too distant past, according to a study by scientists from, among others, the University of Cambridge and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS).

The researchers have found eggs from various parasitic worms such as roundworm, whipworm, tapeworm, small and large liver fluke and hairworm in archaeological remains of three cesspools in Brussels, dating from the 14th to the 17th century. They also found traces of two types of amoeba: Giardia duodenalis in Entamoeba histolytica, both of which cause dysentery.

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