About 80% of the world's inhabitants are infected by various helminths.It often takes a long time and unsuccessfully to treat a disease whose real cause is parasites.Worms that can live in humans violate the integrity of vascular walls, clog the intestinal lumen and damage internal organs.They produce toxic substances that enter the blood.
What kind of worms do people have?
Helminths colonize the intestines or parasitize, living in any other organ.There are several varieties, the most common being nematodes.Their body is shaped like an elongated, round cross-section, narrowing at the ends.More often than others, infection occurs:
- roundworms, trichins, sedimentation in the small intestine and other organs.
- whipworms that live in the large intestine and feed on blood and mucus.
- worms that accumulate in the cecum and colon.
Pinworms are especially often found in children when they do a stool test for enterobiasis.
In addition to those listed, there are more than a hundred less common parasites that inhabit different parts of the gut.For example, in humans such worms as hookworm and roundworm are found in the thin segment.the thick part is often clogged with whipworms.People become hosts for adult films, which have a flat, long body.Large tapeworms of cattle and pork, tapeworms and echinococci inhabit the intestines.
Fluke worms have flukes on their bodies ranging from a few millimeters in length (Siberian fluke) to 7 cm (fasciola).Parasites are passed to humans as a result of eating raw fish and unboiled water.Sometimes worm infection occurs through the skin while swimming in lakes and rivers (schistosoma).Once established, they can feel great on various human organs for several years.
Methods of infection
The routes by which different types of worms enter vary.The main method of parasite infection is fecal-oral.It is associated with the penetration of helminths along with food and water.People simply ingest invisible organisms when they forget to wash their hands before eating.Worms in feces are rarely visible to the naked eye.But the flies that hover over the droppings always carry their eggs.If an insect lands on a piece of food, the chances of contamination increase significantly.
Worms appear in humans after working with soil or sand without gloves.In the latter case, small children, for whom the sandbox is a favorite place to play, are more likely to suffer from parasites.Helminths reach the surface of the soil together with the feces of animals - cats, dogs, animals, and are carried by flies.They enter the human body through unwashed hands, microtraumas on the skin and insufficiently processed vegetables.Inhalation of street dust, saturated with very resistant larvae, can also become infected.
Another factor that contributes to the appearance of worms is the use of poor quality water.It is extremely undesirable to swallow liquid while swimming in the sea, river or lake.It contains a huge number of parasites from the feces of fish, waterfowl and domestic animals.If a person consumes raw fish or meat, there is a risk of infection and parasites - cattle tapeworm, pork tapeworm, tapeworm - settling in the body.In medical reference books there are photographs of worms, the length of which reaches several meters.
Symptoms and signs of helminth infestation
Having become hosts of parasites, people begin to lose weight rapidly, feel exhausted and look pale.Indicate the presence of worms:
- pains all over the body;
- painful sensations in the joints.
- general weakness;
- loss of appetite;
- diarrhea or constipation;
- bouts of nausea.
But to make sure that there are helminths in the body, it is necessary to undergo an examination.It will help detect worms in the stool or specific antibodies in the blood.
Symptoms increase in the absence of timely treatment.Depending on which worms dominate the body, where they accumulate, the signs of the disease will differ.Bile stagnation occurs when the ducts are blocked by parasites.A person feels heaviness and pain in the right hypochondrium, bitterness in the mouth.You periodically suffer from bouts of nausea and constipation.
Many worms secrete substances that irritate the intestinal walls - diarrhea occurs, in which the feces are watery and foamy.In addition, the patient experiences increased gas formation, loud rumbling in the abdomen and pain in the navel area.
Worms, once inside the human body, can migrate.Their development is accompanied by intense pain.Most of the time, a person with helminthiasis thinks they have an arthritis flare-up.In fact, the unpleasant sensations caused by worms are the body's response to tissue injury.
A person experiences a state of apathy, has a deterioration in the ability to concentrate and memory problems.This happens if the parasites are present in the body for a long time.A previously unusual allergy or intolerance by the body to certain foods appears.Worms become the culprits of skin problems.The most common:
- acne, pimples all over the body.
- urticaria, atopic dermatitis, eczema?
- very early formation of wrinkles.
- hair loss, bald spots.
The more frequent runny nose, bronchitis, asthma and pneumonia may well be caused by the migration of worms through the bloodstream.Sometimes parasites settle in the lungs, lay eggs there, which mature and turn into full individuals.On X-rays and scans taken after CT, the worms look like a round or oval-shaped dark focus.
The entry of toxic helminth waste into the blood causes people to complain of:
- constant anxiety, irritability.
- depression;
- insomnia.
Both obesity and underweight are common symptoms of worms.Digestive problems and drunkenness lead to poor appetite.A person loses body weight.The long-term presence of parasites causes a decrease in blood glucose levels and a constant feeling of hunger.At the cellular level, there is a lack of nutrients, which is compensated by the accumulation of adipose tissue.
Pharmacotherapy
It is not recommended to treat helminthiasis without first consulting a specialist for several reasons.The first is that even after passing faeces several times for analysis, it is not always possible to detect parasites.To accurately determine which type of worms has settled in a person, you should do a more detailed examination, including:
- general blood test with type of leukemia.
- biochemical blood test (liver tests).
- stool and rectal mucus analysis.
Sometimes, to detect worms that have colonized the body, examination of bile, sputum and small areas of skin is required.
Treating worms in an adult or a child yourself is a dubious idea.Pharmacological drugs are quite toxic.At the same time, many of them have an effect directed against a certain species without affecting others.
If the test results revealed worms in a person's feces, or the presence of parasites was confirmed by other diagnostic procedures, the infectious disease specialist selects the most effective drug.The doctor who prescribes the pills must indicate exactly how many times the medicine should be taken and its dosage, based on the patient's weight.Treatment of worms is carried out:
- Albendazole;
- Paraziquantheloma;
- Medamine?
- Mebendazole?
- Pyrantel.
The procedure for getting rid of worms is supplemented with agents that relieve poisoning (sorbents), anti-allergic drugs and vitamins.
Precautionary measures
Considering that worms are very easily transmitted by animals or an infected person, every effort should be made to prevent their occurrence.To do this, you must strictly observe hygiene.An important factor in protecting against worms is the correct preparation of the products from which food is prepared.
Doctors recommend carrying out an annual preventive procedure to clean the worms in spring and autumn.Even if a person has no obvious symptoms of infection.Its maximum effectiveness can be achieved if all family members take the medicine recommended by the doctor.Most parasites are so small that you can only see photographs of the eggs of some worms, taken through a powerful microscope when examining feces or other biomaterial.