# Survival > Bushcraft Medicine >  Getting rid of Worms

## mouse111111

I've heard that taking a small amount of kerosine or gasoline will get rid of your worms if you have them. Has anyone else heard this, and will it make you sick?

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## Rick

I don't advise taking kerosine or gasoline internally for anything. 

There are actually a number of parasitic worms that can live in the intestinal tract. Many more that can infect your body elsewhere. They range from roundworms to hookworms to whipworms, flukes and amoebas. Most (Most, not all) infection comes from poor hygiene where the eggs are on the fingers and then placed on the lips or mouth. That can occur from not washing after toilet use, in those already infected, or even after clean up from a pet if they are infected. It can also come from infected food. Either way, hand washing goes a long way in breaking the life cycle. 

If someone is infected then they need to see a health care professional so the specific parasite can be identified and the medicine targeted to kill it. There are five basic drugs (called anthelmintics) used to treat the various parasites: they are  benzimidazoles albendazole and mebendazole, diethylcarbamazine, ivermectin, and praziquantel. They may also be needed in combination. 

Many of the parasites live in the large intestine/colon near the end of the intestinal tract. Kerosine/gasoline would wreck havoc in the upper GI long before it even reached lower GI parasites. 

I'm not a doctor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

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## mouse111111

I thought the same thing, that's why I was so surprised when I saw it in a wilderness survival guide(I think the author was a writer before he was a survivalist).

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## southern woods

> I thought the same thing, that's why I was so surprised when I saw it in a wilderness survival guide(I think the author was a writer before he was a survivalist).


Do you remember which guide advised the kerosene? I've got alot of old outdoors magazines that printed similar advice. The same kind magazines that printed stories of fighting polar bears and bandits on the same hunting trip.

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## mouse111111

It was the Survival Handbook by Colin Towel.

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## JPGreco

The one thing I've never understood about the concept of washing your hands after using the toilet to prevent worms is that if you had worm eggs in your poop, wouldn't that mean you already have worms?  So then the whole hand washing part of that logic becomes moot.  Do worm eggs need to be pooped and then swallowed to incubate?

I do wash my hands, but never understood that particular line of reasoning.

There are a lot of natural herbs and such that you can take though that can kill different type of infestations of the intestine.

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## Rick

That's how it works. The eggs are excreted, you get them on your hands, you touch your mouth, swallow the eggs where they hatch and the process starts over again. Washing your hands just prevents the reintroduction of new eggs. It obviously does nothing for the worms you already have. The hand washing also prevents infection in other family members if only one is infected, say an infant. Here's a diagram for pinworms that depicts the cycle. 

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I can't speak to herbs. Anything strong enough to kill worms has to have some affect on you whether it's pharmaceuticals or herbs. And herbs don't follow a rigid testing protocol like prescription meds do. Just a thought.

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## crashdive123

Because the guy before you didn't wash his hands, along with the ten people before him.  They touched a lot, but didn't wash their hands.

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## wholsomback

My doctor recommended a product called wormwood that you can get from herbal markets and I do say it does work,I do a cleanse once a year now.One bottle 60 pills 2 per day for a month.

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## mouse111111

Assuming you are in a long term survival situation would you be able to get rid of worms without medical help, there must have been a Native American solution.

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## kyratshooter

kerosene was one of the recommended treatments when I was in the Army.  Living in a combat environment on patrol constantly removes you from the prefered hygiene services.   

One spoon full every 24 hours until the problem was solved.

We prefered Hartz Mountain pills and had them sent from home in care packages. 

You can not avoid worms, their eggs are in every soil sample world wide.  Washing helps but you are not going to be able to scrub down every five minutes in a survival situation.  Our present hygiene standards will go out the window real fast.  

One of the reasons disentery is one of the big killers in the third world and also in combat situations.  You simply do not always have enough water to even wash your hands and if you do the water is often carrying the contaminants.

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## Rick

Yeah, but you were in the army when it was the Continental Army. A lot has changed since then. We have a lot more survival items available to us than ever before. Things like hand cleanser, Campsuds, and towlettes are relatively new items on the human scene. They are small and light weight and don't require much or any water to use. 

Even General Washington was chastised by von Stueben for allowing the Continental Army's hygiene standards to fall by the wayside. Simple and easy hygiene rules can easily be followed in most situations. Don't poop where you eat. Don't drink raw water. Don't eat raw food. von Stueben knew that even back then. 

Dysentery has two main culprits. You will either have amoebic dysentery, which is caused by a protozoan or a bacterial dysentery, called bacilliary dysentery. Worms can cause diarrhea but not dysentery. 

If you want to drink kerosene, gasoline or even that kool-aid those weird looking guys wearing the bed sheets are handing out then have at it. My engine doesn't run on that stuff and I'm not drinking it. 

Mouse - I'm sure indigenous folks had a couple of solutions for worms. It was called suffering and ultimately death. 

There will always be some form of medical aid. Think about how many doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses and EMTS there are in this country and how many clinics, hospitals and pharmacies there are. That stuff does not disappear overnight. The meds might get scarfed up and go on the black market and you might have to pay a couple of bottles of bourbon to get it but it will be out there for quite a while and still good.

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## kyratshooter

Come on Rick, we are talking survival situation, not modern combat.  

Do you really think the medics are going to be standing on the street corners handing out wet wipes?

We're not talking about chugging K2 kerosene, we are talking about one spoon full every 24 hours as recommended by the military in emergency situations.  They also recommend charcoal from the campfire for dysentery too.

Just because a remedy is old does not mean it does not work.

Worms sap your energy and steal your nutrition.  Dealing with them early my mean you last long enough to be rescued.

Long term, it may mean you keep your kids or grand kids from dying of malnutrition.

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## Rick

I'm not talking about combat anything. I don't discount old remedies only old remedies that either do no good or do more harm than good. Charcoal is a good thing for many ailments. Mostly poison, which you'll probably need after that couple of spoonfuls of kerosene. 

Mom used to give us coil oil and sugar when we had the croop. Did it work? You bet. You did everything in your power never to cough so much as one time afterwards lest you get a second dose. My kids never got subjected to that little remedy.

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## kyratshooter

OH sorry, I did not realize the advice was based on childhood trauma.  

That changes the facts all around and makes me sure I would prefer to die from worm infestation.

BTW, you just let the cat out of the bag, a spoon full of kero will not kill you.

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## Rick

As I said, drink what you want. I don't have a dog in this fight 'cause he won't touch the stuff either.

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## LowKey

I think I wrote this story before but I had a professor once talk about being on an island and her son came down with pinworms. The cure for those is to have someone patiently wait for the females to emerge to lay eggs, and grab em with a pair of tweezers. No joke. No medical treatment on this island. You do what you gotta do. 
She also recommended the Hartz pills for other worm issues.

I've heard of using kerosene for fungal ringworm, but not drinking it.

There are herbals out there for the treatment of worms. The indigenous people weren't as stupid as people like to think they were. The problem with herbals is knowing the right dose. I wouldn't even begin to suggest any here. It doesn't hurt to do your own research into them though to at least have an option (and by research I don't mean actually dosing yourself with the stuff...)

Or just suffer and die. 
I like options.

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## Rick

On the up side you could use them for fishing. Just don't try to shock them to get them to come out. LOL.

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## woodsman86

my question is...does the kerosene advice come with a disclaimer/warning for the catastrophic consequences of lighting your farts after drinking?

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## erunkiswldrnssurvival

intestinal worms as an infestation is no laughing matter. curative madicaments administered by a physician is recomended. however in a survival situation there are solutions. IOdine tablets used for water purification can be used, clorine bleach, and ipacac syrup are good methods of expelling worms. wild cherry bark tea is another remody.doseage can be a concern. flies often lay eggs on wild fruit annd raw ingestion of the fruit bestows the worms thorough cooking of wild foods will destroy the eggs . care in food preperation is the best way to prevent worm attacks.

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## shiftyer1

I swollowed a little bit of gas as a teenager syphoning gas out of the lawnmower for my truck.  That was enough....I think i'd rather be stuck with the worms!!!!!

I've heard swallowing tobacco kills worms,  I don't know if it's true or not.  Probably a wives tale.

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## Rick

Fly eggs are different dinosaurs. The eggs from intestinal worms come from the anus of some person or animal.

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## edr730

I have heard of turpentine for parasites which makes me think of pine needle or pine sap. I've heard of 20 mule team borax being used and also green walnut hulls. I know people used to give a dog a piece of a plug of tobacco for worms also. I've picked up parasites in third world countries before I learned not to run my hands along a handrail or building, or touch the water in a fountain and to never set my pack down in a town and never ever let your bare feet touch the ground in or out of a house. I went to the clinic and just happened to be checked for parasites, but I'd try alot of things if a doctor wasn't available.

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## Rick

I received my copy of Where There is no Doctor this week and it recommends mebendazole (Vermox) for most types of worms. There are no folk remedies suggested other than papaya. But it cautions that medicines work better. 

"Collect 3 or 4 teaspoons (15-20 ml.) of the 'milk' that comes out when the green fruit or trunk of the tree is cut. Mix this with an equal amount of sugar or honey and stir into a cup of hot water. If possible, drink along with a laxative. 

Even better, dry and crush to a powder the papaya seeds. Take 3 teaspoons mixed with 1 glass water or some honey 3 times a day for seven days." 

It also cautions that you need to know what kind of worms you are dealing with. The wrong remedy can cause roundworms to move up to the nose or mouth and can cause gagging.

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## edr730

I recall, now, about the papaya seeds for malaria, cancer and a number of other sicknesses. I recall that I have some seeds saved. I had never heard that it was used for parasites. I know that it is a cousin of South American graviola and the North American pawpaw, all of which have been researched and shown to have some powerful medicinal properties. Thanks, I think I will read a bit more about those plants again. I did read that pregnant women should not use it. I wish they grew in my area or that I could buy football size papayas rather than softball size ones.

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## gryffynklm

Cherokee used black walnut green hulls in some way for tape worm but I don't know how they prepared them. I can't find the source for that. I looked on line but can't remember which book I found it in. It's in ether Medicine of the Cherokee or Cherokee Herbal. I cant find my book and don't remember the cover. Not much help but might give you a direction for searching.

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## grrlscout

> Assuming you are in a long term survival situation would you be able to get rid of worms without medical help, there must have been a Native American solution.


I plugged "Anthelmintic" into the Native Ethnobotany database, and got many, many hits. 

http://herb.umd.umich.edu/

Of course, this doesn't tell you anything about preparation, dosing, or warnings. But it is a start for research.

I see some wild forms of tobacco listed. Perhaps that's where the whole tobacco for treatment idea started.

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## Rick

We've had a few worms on here from time to time. We usually just ban them.

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