Worms in children: symptoms, treatment, prevention

Infection with helminthic invasion is a fairly common problem in all countries of the world. Almost every third of the planet’s population is a carrier of worms, and worms in children are more common. If we take into account the statistics of only one country, over two million cases of worms have been registered. But in fact, this figure is much higher, because people often do not seek help from a doctor, but try to get rid of the worms themselves.

And some patients do not know about their condition, because the disease is almost asymptomatic. If we make an analogy between the annual sales of antihelminthic drugs and the population of the country, then there are about 22 million patients, and almost 80% of them are children.

To date, the drug is known for more than three hundred types of worms. Affecting the body, worms, symptoms of which depend on the type of parasite and the number of larvae penetrated, do not always give a clear picture indicating the nature of the disease. To suspect a helminth infection, you need to know the signs of the worm and its manifestations, which may indicate the introduction of the parasite into the child's body.

Types of worms

All known worms are usually classified into three main groups, namely:

• Nematodes (roundworms). . . The class of parasites is most often diagnosed in children. This group is represented by types such as:
  • ringworm,
  • cream worm,
  • trichinella,
  • Whip worms.
• Cestodes (parasitic pita rata), represented by types such as:
  • wide ribbon
  • echinococcus (pig tapeworm),
  • dwarf tapeworms (mice),
  • cow tapeworm (tapeworm).
• Trematodes (sucking parasites), the main representative of this class:
  • liver disease,
  • Siberian fluke (cat).

According to other classifications, worms are divided into intestinal and extraculatory parasites. The first group of parasites is only in the intestinal cavity, the second prefers other organs of the human body, for example, liver, heart, lungs, muscles, brain. External intestinal worms have the ability to penetrate the bloodstream, gnaw the intestinal walls and blood vessels, and with the bloodstream to reach their favorite habitat.

Factors contributing to the infection of children with nematodes

• Lack of habit of always washing hands after using the toilet, after walking, before eating. Even biscuits and sweets should not be given to children without asking them to wash their hands first.
• A rare change of underwear. Especially in the summer, it is necessary to ensure that children have a clean linen change at least twice a day. It is important to teach him to do the toilet in the morning after bed, and in the evening before bed.
• The habit of taking everything in your mouth, finger sucking, licking toys, pencils and felt-tip pens.
• The presence of pets in the house walking down the street. Even if the dog is taken out with a leash, and monitored closely so that it does not take anything in its mouth, worm eggs can stick to the fur.
• Poorly washed vegetables and fruits before serving.
• Low standard of living, lack of hygiene in the house, the presence of flies, bugs and cockroaches.

Causes and mechanisms of infection of children with worms

Of all the types of worms that can inhabit the human body, nematodes are the major ones. Basically, worms in children, whose symptoms can be well distinguished, are cream worms and ringworms, whip worms are less rarely diagnosed. Cases of infection with other species make up no more than 3%. This is because worms and tapeworms are more common in tropical climates, and attacks occur mainly when visiting countries located in tropical or subtropical zones.

In addition, because tape parasites can withstand relatively high temperatures, they are mainly infected by lovers of uncooked or raw meat and fish dishes. And, of course, it is easy to catch worms if hygiene norms and rules of personal hygiene are not observed.

The mechanism of infection with ringworms and pinworms is simpler, but also more common. Ignore regular hand washing, careless handling of raw vegetables, herbs and berries. As well as direct contact with stray animals or worm carriers.

Cream worm species have also increased re -invasion. This means that re -infections often occur, which are carried out in this way:

• cream worms cause severe itching of the anus,
• children, brushing itchy skin,
• while cream worm eggs fall on the patient’s fingers and underwear,
• next, touching the door handle, faucet, and other surfaces, the patient leaves a cream worm egg on it,
• the egg freely penetrates into the body of the person living with the carrier and again into the patient himself.

The most dangerous places for ringworm and cream worm infections are:

• kindergarten,
• playground,
• entertainment center for children.

There is no escape from the fact that every child in the first years of life tries to taste almost everything. This is a natural process of cognition of the surrounding world. And touching the surface in a crowded place, the baby will definitely pull his hand into his mouth, which will cause the worm to enter the body.

In addition, a child’s underdeveloped immune system and a weak protective barrier in the immature digestive tract contribute to infection. The only way to reduce the risk of infection is to constantly force your baby to wash their hands, as this can only become a habit in children at the age of four, and that’s not for everyone.

For the most part, the increase in morbidity in children is facilitated by vague manifestations of symptoms and complex diagnostic methods. The clinical picture of the disease may be unclear, short -term, or not present at all. Realizing a bit of discomfort in children, some parents will suspect worms and immediately see a doctor. Most will decide that they know enough to diagnose and prescribe treatment independently, which eventually leads to the widespread spread of parasites and infections to others.

Even fecal analysis for worm eggs and scraping for enterobiasis does not always give a true picture of the disease. In the feces, helminth eggs can lie unevenly, and to catch them, it is necessary to follow the rules for taking the material for analysis, which not everyone knows. Scraping can also show negative results, as females do not lay eggs every day, and to get a reliable picture, scraping must be done at least three times at regular intervals.

Common symptoms and signs of all helminths

Penetration of helminthic invasion into the body is not always accompanied by external symptoms. And in most cases, to some extent, a person is not aware of the presence of parasites in the body at all. Some types of worms can live in a person for many years without negatively affecting his or her well-being, and activate their vital activities only under favorable conditions. This can be:

• weakened by other diseases,
• decrease in immune system activity due to negative environmental effects,
• poor nutrition.

Not so long ago, there were scientific theories about the effects of worms on the occurrence of many internal diseases. Which, however, did not get the support it deserved, but was also not denied.

But today it is certain that everyone is a carrier of a number of bacteria, viruses, fungi, including helminths. And parasites do not always behave well-neighbors towards their owners. The constant release of their wastes, which are toxic to humans, gradually leads to a deterioration in the condition and the development of various diseases.

Indications for suspected active activity of worms are symptoms such as:

• Increased appetite with significant weight loss or loss of appetite and persistent nausea.
• Recurrent abdominal pain, violation of the formation of stool, expressed in constipation or diarrhea, attacks of nausea, ending with vomiting, headache and dizziness, persistent or intermittent.
• Hypersensitivity of the body to various substances and products.
• Deterioration of tooth and nail condition, increased hair loss due to iron deficiency anemia and chronic vitamin B deficiency₁₂. . .
• Low resistance to respiratory diseases (adenoids in children) and inflammatory processes of the genitourinary system.
• Increased irritability and crying, insomnia and disturbed sleep, nightmares and unfounded outbursts of anger, distracted attention and constant anxiety - all this indicates the entry into the blood of large amounts of toxic substances produced by worms.
• Persistent anemia (low hemoglobin) and high eosinophil counts in clinical blood tests should alert parents and force them to check the child for worms. One of the most dangerous negative manifestations of the disease is developmental delay.
• Increased allergic reactions to prophylactic vaccinations.

Special symptoms of cream worms

Small, but very fast -multiplying and persistent worms - pinworms, trigger the development of enterobiasis in children. It is an unpleasant disease, the main symptom of which is severe, unbearable itching in the anus, which worsens at night.

When a child gets sick, the cream worm eggs quickly spread to surrounding objects, wearing toys, clothes, dishes, and everything the baby touches. Pinworms feel great outside the human body and are able to withstand the effects of many disinfectants. It is guaranteed to destroy pinworm eggs just by boiling and irradiating with ultraviolet rays.

Infection with enterobiasis occurs only through the mouth, when a child takes dirty hands in his mouth or licks an infected surface. Through the esophagus, cream worms quickly penetrate the intestine and settle there, developing within two weeks into sexually mature adult individuals.

Severe itching, characteristic of enterobiasis, occurs due to irritation caused by cream worm eggs. Its strengthening at night is explained by the fact that in dreams the anal sphincters rest little and do not represent an insurmountable obstacle for adult females, who lay eggs, exclusively crawling to the surface. In one sortie, cream worms can leave up to 5, 000 eggs on the anal skin.

Irritating to the skin, pinworms force the skin to be brushed, penetrating at this time under the nails, on the skin of the hands, on clothing and bedding. In addition to severe itching, when infected with cream worms, the symptoms in children are as follows:

• Sleep is disturbed, restless, often insomnia, nightmares.
• Stop growth and gain weight, or even lose weight.
• Increased fatigue, nervousness, overly excited.
• Lack of attention and poor assimilation of new things, leading to lagging in learning.
• Girls may experience enuresis with urethral irritation. This results in involuntary urination at night.
• In addition, cream worms are able to penetrate the internal genital organs, colonize the vaginal cavity (vulvovaginitis), and even reach the uterus and fallopian tubes, carrying with it infections and causing inflammation.
• The accumulation of large colonies of cream worms in the secum cavity can trigger appendicitis.
• An unmistakable symptom is echoing teeth at night.
• Breeding of cream worms contributes to the development of diseases such as:
  • intestinal dysbiosis,
  • enterocolitis,
  • pain of unclear etiology in the abdomen,
  • diarrhea,
  • constipation.
• Due to constant intoxication, the intestinal wall stops absorbing nutrients, vitamins and other substances normally, which eventually affects the decline in immune system function. For this reason, children with pinworms get sick not only frequently, but also severely.

Specific symptoms of ascaris (ascariasis)

According to statistics from a recent survey, the picture of infection with worms is quite alarming. The results show that more than 80% of preschool children have been infected with various types of worms at least once.

Unfortunately, many parents do not consider worms to be a serious disease and are very trivial about it. But the settled parasites not only remove essential nutrients from the body, but are also capable of infecting many internal organs.

Representatives of such parasites are ringworms, which cause ascariasis, a symptom much worse than pinworms. Despite the fact that ringworms and pinworms belong to the same class of worms, ringworms can penetrate and cause serious damage not only in the intestine, but also in other organs, for example:

• at heart,
• in the pancreas,
• at heart,
• in brain tissue,
• in the gallbladder,
• in the lungs.

Ringworms enter the body only from the soil, but the provoking factors remain the same as pinworms, these are:

• not following the rules of hygiene,
• careless processing of vegetables, berries and herbs,
• non -compliance with safety rules while working on private plots,
• unclean living conditions.

After entering the body, roundworms adapt for a long time (3 months), mature into mobile larvae, gnaw the walls of the small intestine and blood vessels, and only then begin their migration to favorite organs of the human body.

This period is marked by manifestations such as:

• increase in body temperature in the evening up to 37. 5 ° С;
• frequent weakness and malaise;
• tuberculosis, sometimes accompanied by sputum not separated by red blood vessels;
• development of obstructive bronchitis, bronchial asthma, pneumonia or pleurisy is possible;
• swollen lymph nodes;
• enlargement of the pancreas and liver.

And the main symptom of primary ascariasis is a skin rash like urticaria, localized on the hands and feet.

The subsequent development of the disease, in which the roundworm returns to the intestine, is characterized by disorders such as:

• diarrhea or constipation
• stomach cramps,
• frequent nausea, sometimes causing vomiting,
• bloated stomach,
• anal irritation,
• significant weight loss.

At this stage, against the background of general intoxication, stomatitis and purulent lesions on the skin and mucous membranes often occur. Long -term poisoning by ascaris processing products leads, consequently, to nervous system disorders and mental disorders, these are:

• insomnia,
• nightmare,
• epileptic seizures,
• low blood pressure.

As a complication of ascariasis, severe and dangerous pathologies develop such as:

• intestinal obstruction,
• acute appendicitis,
• obstructive jaundice
• peritonitis.

Specific signs of damage by other types of worms

1. Vlasoglav (trichocephalosis)- characterized by mild symptoms. Indications of infection are diarrhea mixed with traces of blood, prolonged constipation, frequent vomiting, often causing dehydration and anemia. Children with such lesions usually lag significantly behind in mental growth and development.

2. Toxocariasis- in most cases, infants up to 4 years of age are taken in frequent contact with infected dogs or cats. Allergic reactions manifest as the formation of itching on the skin, fever and chills, allergic cough (reaching shortness of breath), swollen face, lung mass, swollen lymph nodes and eye diseases.

3. Dwarf tapeworms (mice).- causes hymenolepiasis, which is characterized by a latent course without any symptoms. With the development of helminthic colonies, children experience dyspeptic disorders, pain syndromes, increased salivation, and frequent headaches. And gradually all this translates into diseases such as:

   • itchy,
   • vasomotor or allergic rhinitis,
   • bronchospasm.

4. Siberian fluke (cat).- opisthorchiasis, characteristic symptoms: fever, swollen lymph nodes, skin rash, pain in the right hypochondrium and joints. Complications: dystrophic myocarditis, hepatitis, pneumonia, pancreatitis, severe gastritis.

5. Wide ribbon- diphyllobothriasis, a disease caused by infection of tapeworms, their eggs or larvae may survive in raw meat or meat that is not cooked adequately. It is characterized by intestinal disorders, pain syndrome and B₁₂- Deficiency anemia.

Methods for removing worms in children

The pharmaceutical industry today supplies pharmacies with a wide variety of antihelminthic agents. This can be a target drug or a broad spectrum. Unfortunately, most of them have a long list of negative side effects on the body. Therefore, if worms are found in a child, only a member of the parasite should prescribe treatment, after a thorough examination and all necessary tests.

In addition, the treatment of most diseases caused by worms requires not only the treatment of worms in children with antihelminthic drugs, but also the appointment of a course of antihistamines, vitamin therapy and probiotics.

Antihistamines are needed to normalize the immune response. Vitamins and probiotics restore essential acid loss and normalize the intestinal microflora.

Of the drugs with the least toxic effects, drugs with hexahydropyrazine were isolated. Therefore, it is more often recommended when the question is how to get rid of worms in young children. The drug is produced specifically not in tablets, but in the form of suspensions or syrups.

Many parents choose traditional medicine. Indeed, pumpkin seeds and garlic enemas have anthelmintic effects and are often used, for example, to treat ascariasis. But its use does not guarantee complete healing. Therefore, to exclude recurrence, it is better to take the drug prescribed by a doctor and correct the result with any folk anthelmintic drugs, otherwise the question of how to remove the worms will always be repeated.

Preventive measures against worm infections

The inevitable penetration of worms into a child’s body should not be taken as an axiom. There are some rules for worm prevention, following which you can easily protect your baby from this infection:

• Thoroughly rinse raw vegetables, berries, herbs and fruits under running water, and then pour boiling water over it.
• Subject fish and meat dishes to prolonged heat treatment.
• Do not allow flies, cockroaches, bugs and mosquitoes to appear in the apartment or house.
• All pets should be given anthelmintic medication on a regular basis for prophylaxis.
• Ask the children to wash their hands after each contact with the animal.
• Allow children to play and use only toys and treated objects.
• From the first step, teach the child to wash their hands with soap and water after the toilet, after coming home from a walk, after outdoor games and before every meal.
• Never pull toys or other objects into your mouth, or lick your fingers.
• Monitor the condition of children's nails.
• At night, put on your baby tight sleepwear to prevent the spread of cream worms.
• It is advisable not only to boil children's underwear, but also to iron on both sides.
• Teach your baby to change underwear in the morning and evening. It is advisable that the child have a separate shelf in the closet where only his or her belongings will be stored.