In the late 1970’s, Dr. Merchant started his medical career at a low income clinic in the South Valley. The patients drank from shallow water wells adjacent to septic tanks, in an area where the water table was very shallow. Dr. Merchant observed frequent gastrointestinal complaints and that the patients were sicker, and sicker younger, than expected. He realized the patients suffered from intestinal parasites, a topic barely discussed in medical school. No one wanted to know or hear the water was making people sick. Eventually, he and the state epidemiologist proved an epidemic of gastrointestinal disease in the South Valley, and water and sewer lines were extended to the area.

At the clinic, Dr. Merchant also saw many veterans of Vietnam with PTSD, whose mental health improved after treatment of parasitic disease. No one wanted to know or hear the Vietnam veterans had parasitic disease. Forty-two years later the Veterans Administration recognized veterans of the Vietnam War had an intestinal parasite in the liver, prevalent in rivers and streams in Vietnam, after the veterans started dying of liver cancer at an alarming rate.

The reluctance of the medical community to accept and incorporate new ideas is painfully slow.