Human parasites inhabit any of its organs and systems. These creatures enter the body from the environment and are carried throughout the body by the bloodstream. There are a large number of types of parasites that can inhabit the human body. All of them pose a threat to human health and cause negative changes in the work of organs.
Human parasites. The signs of the appearance of worms in humans are obvious and hidden. The obvious ones include "unreasonable" weight loss, pale appearance (skin anemia), chronic fatigue, itching at night in the anal canal. This manifestation is well known and indicates pollution.
How can you be infected with worms
Human parasites. To protect yourself, you need to know about 4 ways to spread and infect worm eggs with eggs:
- Through soil and water - geohelminthiases. They thrive in sand, soil and water, then enter the human body and begin to lay eggs there. Next, the worm eggs enter the external environment along with the feces and wait in the wings to infect the novice. Eating vegetables and fruits that are not washed well, dirty hands, dust on food can lead to human infection with geohelminths. Some parasitic eggs enter the human body through the skin of the feet and ankles.
- Through direct contact. Worms in pets and humans are spread through hand contact, play, and joint activities.
- Through the use of contaminated food of animal origin - biohelminthiasis. Eating raw and poorly processed meats (kebabs, bacon, preservatives, homemade games) and fish (sushi, dried fish, fish preservatives) is potentially dangerous. There is a possibility of being infected with intestinal infections and biohelminths.
- With insect bites. This type of infection is relatively rare. These include intestinal myiasis, cantariasis, and scoleciasis. Do not confuse parasite eggs and insect larvae, which are also kept under the skin of animals and human skin (for example, gadfly larvae).
The main mechanism of worm spread
- Soil, sand and other soil types are the most fertile habitats for worm eggs. Fruiting plants are always in contact with the ground. When harvesting, vegetables, fruits and greens come into contact with workers ’hands, with dusty vegetable store shelves, and trucks. In such circumstances, contamination of food with parasitic eggs is highly likely. Therefore, it is necessary to wash the original product of the plant thoroughly under running water, and then pour with boiling water. You should be especially careful in rural areas, where pets walk around the yard and then get into the house. It’s not hard to imagine the kind of sewage a cat or dog can put into a house after a night walk. Flies and cockroaches are also carriers of helminth eggs. When sitting on food, insects can infect your food. Any contact with soil and sand can lead to the entry of parasites into the human body. Therefore, it is necessary to wash your hands thoroughly, especially under the nails. This applies especially to children.
- From one person to another. The mechanism of this infection is very efficient. For example, cream worms lay their eggs at night in the area around the anus. A child, in a state of sleep, scratches the place where the egg is laid, because the itching starts there. Thousands of eggs fell on clothes, on beds, and in the morning on door knobs and on all who touched a little agitated in the morning even before washing his hands and washing his face. As a result, the whole family is at risk of being infected.
- Through contact with water. Open water bodies contain a large number of types of worms. Bathing and swallowing water inadvertently is a serious risk of infection
Children are more likely than adults to be exposed to helminthic invasion. This is due to the fact that the child's body is poorly protected (new defense mechanisms are formed), and the child is actively in contact with the external environment. It takes extraordinary effort for parents to teach him the basic rules of personal hygiene.
Babies under the age of 6 are at high risk of infection. According to statistics, about 95% of children under the age of 4-5 years are infected with worms. Therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to prevention.
Most types of worms are in the body, only there they lay eggs, and after a certain period they die. For example, pinworms live 6-8 weeks, ringworm - up to 1 year. The number of parasites in the body increases only with the entry of new eggs from outside.
The treatment allows you to get rid of the worms faster and stop laying eggs in the gut. It is almost impossible for a child with a helminthic attack to recover without medication. New eggs will always enter the oral cavity, replenishing the adult line in the child’s body.
What are the signs to recognize helminthic invasion
Cases of helminthic invasion are not uncommon, in which diseases of the internal organs are exacerbated, diseases that have never appeared before. This is considered a hidden sign. A person is taken to the treatment of many diseases, and the cause is left unattended. At the same time, the therapy did not bring results. The following are examples of such cases:
Infectious diseases due to decreased immunity
Parasites, being in the human body, take in a lot of nutrients and release toxic substances. Such conditions significantly reduce the patient's immunity. Severity of chronic disease, various inflammatory processes in the nasopharynx may begin. Treatment of sinusitis or stomatitis by standard means is futile. It is important to rule out the cause.
In girls and women, inflammation of the uterine appendages, vulvovaginitis, vaginosis of various origins can often begin.
General lethargy due to body intoxication
The more serious the helminthic invasion of the patient, the more harmful substances released by the parasite. This has a detrimental effect on the well-being and nervous system of adults and children. Examples are migraines, dizziness, joint pain. Overcoming nausea, the person took painkillers, but the pain returned after a short time: the cause of the disease was ignored.
In children, nervous system disorders are accompanied by irritability, apathy, and aggression.
If your child is starting to lack sleep, talk in dreams, see nightmares, or slip into school, then it’s time to start preventing helminthiasis.
Allergic reactions, skin pathology
Human parasites. Worm waste is considered a trigger of allergens. Skin reactions (rash, itching, rash, skin peeling) are the minimal symptoms that can occur when an allergy begins. There is a possibility of general reactions of the body: exacerbation of asthma, rhinitis, cough. Occasionally helminthic invasion is accompanied by brittleness and hair loss, cracking of the skin on the heels, and exfoliation of the nails.
Gastrointestinal disorders
Depending on the severity of the infection, symptoms can range from mild to severe forms of the disorder. From mild nausea and diarrhea, to chronic bloating, constipation, vomiting, pain in the navel and hypochondrium. Worms in tissues do not affect the gastrointestinal tract like intestinal parasites.
In what organs can parasites live?
Human parasites are divided into two categories, which correspond to the site of activity in the donor body.
- Cavity - worms that live in various parts of the gastrointestinal tract. There are about 100 types of intestinal parasites, and there are several dozen species for each part of the intestine. The small intestine is ready to receive ringworms, antilostomies, tapeworms and other less common "relatives". The small intestine "will share living space" with cream worms, dwarf tapeworms and others. The medical literature describes a case when a person is simultaneously infected with several types of parasites.
- Tissues - worms are localized in organs, tissues and also in the blood. Modern medicine successfully overcomes paragonimiasis (lungs), cysticercosis (brain), echinococcosis (liver) and filariasis (lymphatic vessels). Some worm larvae travel through the body through the circulatory system and randomly attach to any organ. If many eggs are inserted, the whole body may become infected.
The symptoms of worms depend on the type of parasite
Symptoms will vary for different types of worms in humans. It is also worth considering the duration and strength of infection with parasites, the general condition of the patient before infection. The table below summarizes the main symptoms of the presence of worms in humans according to their type.
| Types of parasites (diseases) | Methods of infection | symptoms | Time of onset of symptoms |
| cream worm (enterobiasis) | With foods of plant origin. | Itching at night around the anus, the presence of parasites in the stool, short-term sharp pain in the center. | 2-3 days after infection |
| Vlasoglav (trichocephalosis) | With contaminated food prepared in an unclean condition. | Symptoms are expressed only with severe aggression: diarrhea, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, inflammation of the appendix. In children, body growth may be delayed and even rectal prolapse may occur. | A few weeks |
| Broad -bandworm (diphyllobothriasis) | When eating infected river fish. | These parasites can live up to 25 years in patients. Mechanical damage to the intestines, vitamin deficiency, intestinal obstruction, body intoxication, allergies. | A few weeks |
| Hookworm | When walking barefoot on charged ground. | Itching, swelling of the feet and legs in the place where the parasites enter. Cough, phlegm, damage to the bronchi and lungs. Weakness, dizziness. The menstrual cycle in women is disrupted. Men suffer from impotence. | A few days |
| Ascaris (ascariasis) | With foods of plant origin. | Pain in the intestines, peritonitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, liver disease, pancreas. May cause shortness of breath by crawling from the gastrointestinal tract into the esophagus or respiratory tract. | About 3 months |
| Trichinella (Trichinosis) | Poorly processed meat, lard. | Nausea and heartburn, diarrhea. | 2 days |
| Hepatic and giant attacks (fascioliasis) | Growing food and water. | Fever, tuberculosis, loss of appetite, abdominal pain. | 2-4 weeks |
The symptomatology of helminthiasis is as diverse as the pathogens of parasitosis, their life cycle, route of entry, migration and localization of favorites are different from each other.
The general symptoms of parasitic diseases are explained by the fact that with helminthic invasion, parasites suppress a person's own immunity, contributing to the development of inflammatory and autoimmune processes. Common symptoms associated with intoxication, death of parasites, their vital and reproductive activities, manifest as weakness, lability and mood swings, decreased performance and academic performance, memory, and ability to learn in children.
Pain in the right hypochondrium, exacerbation, the appearance of jaundice may indicate that the parasitic disease is localized mainly in the hepatoduodenal zone (liver area and ducts). At the same time, patients may record nausea, episodes of regurgitation (vomiting).
Human parasites associated with damage to the liver and ducts belonging to the hepatobiliary system are observed, for example, when infected with flatworms - opisthorchis. This helminth enters the body of the final owner - a person - when eating poorly processed fish of a particular breed (carp).
Symptoms associated with damage to the liver and ducts associated with the hepatobiliary system are observed, for example, when infected with flatworms - opisthorchis.
The disease is endemic and has a special distribution area. For pathogen transmission, parasitic larvae must go through a complex cycle with host changes (mollusks of certain species, fish from the carp family).
Human parasites. Often, with many parasitic diseases, there are certain skin manifestations in the form of itching on the skin, various rashes, scratching, atopic dermatitis, eczema, and the progression of other skin diseases. Skin processes are not always associated with helminthic invasion and are not successfully treated by dermatologists.
It is important that with helminthiasis any organs and tissues can be affected, patients often worry about headaches, arthralgia (articular syndrome), complaints from the upper and lower respiratory tract appear. Often, a prolonged cough, frequent SARS, pharyngitis, laryngitis, difficulty breathing are associated with inflammation, the main place in its pathogenesis is a parasitic infection (helminth).
Giardiasis and its characteristics
Giardiasis is a protozoal disease in which the pathogen exists in vegetative form and in the form of cysts. Giardia infection occurs when cysts are ingested, which are very persistent in the environment and can persist for a long time in the environment (soil, food, water, various objects).
1 ml of feces can contain millions of lamblia cysts, which, when placed in a good environment, can turn into a vegetative form. In the human intestine, a vegetative, mobile form is formed from cysts over several hours with flagella attached between intestinal epithelial cells, where the pathogen finds a favorable environment for itself with sufficient amounts of carbohydrate foods, which are favorite substrates. for lamblia.
Giardia in a favorable environment is divided binary (into two parts), and soon their number increases many times. In addition to the intestine, the vegetative form of lamblia affects the hepatobiliary system (bile ducts, gallbladder).
Symptoms of giardiasis are associated with asthenia, poor academic performance, weakness, in combination with signs of damage to the intestinal tract and hepatobiliaries. The course of giardiasis and other parasitic diseases is largely associated with the characteristics of the immune response. Intestinal form, gastroenterocolitis - a common form of giardiasis. Pathogenic endotoxins can affect the nervous system, which explains the presence of many common external intestinal symptoms.
Ascariasis
Another common and ubiquitous parasitic disease is ascariasis. This helminthiasis occurs more frequently in children, but in adult patients it often causes many complaints and symptoms. Many chronic inflammatory diseases, as well as somatic pathologies, can be initiated by parasitic invasion and intensify with the presence of various parasites (including ascaris).
Often, children and adults who carry ascaris develop chronic colitis, enteritis, bronchitis, although serious diseases such as bronchial asthma may develop, other allergic processes (atopic dermatitis, eczema, rhinitis, psoriasis) may be supported.
Human parasites. Ascaris enters the stomach when an egg is swallowed. After entering the upper part of the digestive tube (stomach), the larvae, freeing themselves from the capsule, migrate into the bloodstream, with their blood flow entering the alveoli of the pulmonary system, causing patients to cough, cough and other bronchitis phenomena.
Often such a condition is considered a viral infection, an exacerbation of chronic bronchopulmonary disease and is usually associated, in this case, with the movement of parasitic larvae.
After the ascaris larvae cough and enter the pathogen with phlegm into the pharynx, they are swallowed with saliva and re -enter the stomach, then enter the intestine, where there are favorable conditions for the further growth and development of the parasite.
In the human intestine, the ringworm, consuming its contents, transforms into a sexually mature individual (female 50 cm, male 20 cm). In important growth processes and activities, as well as as a result of larval migration, parasites have negative toxic and mechanical effects on the human body.
In the process of growth, vital activity, spawning and maturation, pathogens have a suppressive effect on the body's immunity, can cause diseases of the lungs, intestines and other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, anemia. Ascaris can live in the human intestine for up to a year.
Remedy for helminths
Medical treatment of a person with pills is possible with the help of a large number of modern anthelmintic drugs, prescribed by specialists.
Since some funds do not work on the larvae and eggs of worms, and there is also a high risk for re-infection (self-infection with pin worms), the course of treatment is repeated after 2-3 weeks. Among the folk methods, the most effective is the old -tested method - the use of pumpkin seeds and tansy herbs.
The fact that pumpkin seeds are a good anthelmintic agent has been known for a long time, it is best to buy unpeeled seeds, peel them yourself, preserve and eat a thin layer between the seeds and skin, and eat 300 g in the morning. within an hour, previously chopped and mixed with honey or jam. Then do not eat for 3-4 hours and do an enema, you can repeat this treatment after 2 weeks.
Interesting facts about human parasites
- According to the WHO, about 3 billion people are infected with helminthic attacks each year. 1. 2 billion suffer from enterobiasis, 0. 9 billion from tapeworm disease, 0. 7 billion from trichocephalosis. And these are just official statistics !;
- In European countries, every third population carries intestinal parasites in the body;
- With serious aggression, a person loses up to 500 ml of blood per day. From here chronic illness and fatigue originate;
- Some parasites are in the brain, eyeballs, bone marrow and can live there for up to 30 years. For example, cytisteryk;
- Female ascaris lay 240, 000 eggs per day. Persistent re -infection will not allow a person to recover the first time. Repeated courses of treatment are required;
- Parasitic wastes - poisons and toxins - affect human health 24 hours a day;
- Some types of tapeworms reach lengths of up to 12 meters. Sometimes it threatens with human intestinal obstruction;
- Pumpkin seeds contain cucurbitin, which helps cure worm attacks without the use of medications. Pumpkin seeds are often given to children for prevention;
- It is optimal to treat pets every 3 months. So you will save yourself and your children from parasites;
- Worm eggs can wait in the wings on door handles for up to 6 months;
- Infected dogs spread parasite eggs by breathing within a radius of 5 meters;
- In order not to be digested in the stomach and intestines, the worms and their eggs release protective anti-enzymes;
- Trichinella does not lay eggs, but produces ready -made worms. Therefore, it is impossible to detect the presence of this parasite in laboratory conditions;
- The most effective test to detect invasion is considered to be the enzyme immunoassay. Swabs, stool analysis may not provide reliable information.
Summing up, it should be said that regular prevention of helminthic infections, even with cheap drugs (they are also considered the most gentle), helps protect the whole family. Responsible for hand and body hygiene and prepare food carefully for use. Children and pets need constant monitoring for parasites.