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TMI: Richard III infected with roundworms when he died

Researchers have been finding out all kinds of things about Richard III after his remains were unearthed in 2012.

One of the latest is that hunchback king had a pretty mean case of roundworms when he was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485.

Scientists came to the conclusion after finding roundworm eggs in soil samples from his pelvis but none in samples from his skull.

They also ruled out any contamination when they found no evidence of the disgusting little critters in the area around the grave.

NBC reports there is a hypothesis about how Richard got the worms but it's kind of gross so read on at your own risk.

Piers Mitchell is a paleoparasitologist and orthopedic surgeon at the University of Cambridge. He told NBC that bad hygiene was probably to blame saying the parasites "may have been spread to Richard by cooks who did not wash their hands after using the toilet, or by the use of human feces from towns to fertilize fields nearby."

Either way it seems poop was to blame.

Researchers point out that this kind of infection was "very common at the time."

Physicians from the era would treat the situation with bloodletting, diet modification, and medicine  to eliminate excess phlegm."

It’s also interesting to note a similar type of worm was found in a 1600BC Egyptian mummy.

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