On many skeletons of medieval monks dating back to 1290, which are kept at the University of Cambridge, scientists have found eggs of parasitic worms..

The study shows that although the monks led a much more hygienic lifestyle than ordinary citizens, they were much more likely to be infected with parasites.. This may be due to their occupation of gardening..

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In medieval Cambridge, many citizens lived in poverty along with cattle in cramped houses.. They are dumping excrement into cesspools.

The monks lived a completely different life. Fresh food was grown outside the walls of the monastery, and toilets were isolated.. Many monasteries were even equipped with plumbing systems - a luxury that was not even in the aristocratic houses of that time.. Like many aspects of a monk's life, focusing on hygiene brought them closer to God.. Perhaps that is why the monks often outlived the commoners..

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But no one had previously paid attention to whether the monks were less susceptible to worms and other parasites - a common scourge of the time..

Piers Mitchell, a paleopathologist from Cambridge, and his colleagues turned to the study of the skeletons of monks found in their homeland..

Researchers collected sediment around the pelvis of 19 skeletons dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries.. They also collected similar specimens from 25 non-monastic skeletons buried around the same time in a rural parish about a kilometer from the monastery ruins.. This parish cemetery served primarily lower-class parishioners from the 12th to the 14th century..

Nearly 60% of Cambridge monks were infected with intestinal worms, researchers report in the International Journal of Paleopathology. They are nearly twice as likely to infest with parasites as their mundane neighbors..

Ironically, Mitchell thinks the monks' better hygiene is to blame.. Because they collected their excrement in the latrine rather than throwing it in latrines, the clergy may have recycled their own waste as fertilizer for their vegetable gardens..

Mitchell notes that roundworms lay their eggs in human feces, so eggs in kitchen gardens can easily end up in food and then in the stomachs of monks..

And, although the remains of monks are several centuries old, Mitchell believes that the meaning of this find is timeless: \! "

Paleopathology and parasitology can tell a lot about human history. e In particular, about the ways of migrations of people, about their way of life in ancient times. For example, the feces of wealthy residents of ancient Jerusalem told about the most common parasites there..