Roman soldiers defending Hadrian’s Wall had intestinal parasites

Despite their reputation for advanced sanitation, ancient Romans at a major fort in northern England were probably suffering from a range of digestive ailments caused by parasites.

The fort of Vindolanda, near Hadrian’s Wall and occupied by Roman soldiers from the 1st to the 4th century CE, would have been no place for anyone with a delicate stomach, suggest the results of excavations of the site’s sewage pits.

Piers Mitchell at the University of Cambridge and his colleagues collected and analysed nearly 60 sediment samples from a latrine drain that serviced a communal toilet thought to have been in use in the 3rd century.

Using microscopy, they found the eggs of two intestinal parasites: roundworm and whipworm. They also found traces of a single-celled parasite called Giardia duodenalis, which they identified using antibodies that bind exclusively to this organism’s proteins.

All three cause gastrointestinal illnesses that can be severe in children, the elderly or immunocompromised people.

“Despite their best efforts to create Roman comforts such as bath houses and latrines, they still experienced diarrhoea and intestinal worm infections,” says Mitchell.

Infrastructure like latrines, bathhouses, aqueducts and water fountains were largely there to improve the surrounding smell and keep people visibly clean, he says. “As they did not have microscopes they did not understand… many of the infectious diseases that made them ill.”

Excavations at a second nearby fort site, which was occupied in the 1st century and is thought to have been a ditch associated with the outpost’s defences, also came back positive for roundworm and whipworm.

“As the content of the sewer drain is made up of the mixed faeces of the many different people who used the latrines, we cannot say what proportion of the soldiers were infected,” says Mitchell. “However, [based on] the fact that parasite eggs were found right along the length of the sewer drain, it seems likely that a significant proportion of those using the latrines were infected.”

Roundworm and whipworm have been found in other sites across the Roman Empire, but Giardia has so far been identified in Roman contexts only in Turkey and Italy, says Mitchell.

He says that if he were to go back in time to when the fort was operational and get asked if he’d like a glass of water, he would certainly decline: “I might ask, ‘Do you have some beer I could drink instead?’”

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