About 80% of the world's population is infected with various helminths. It often takes a long and unsuccessful treatment for a disease caused by parasites. Worms that can live in humans disrupt the integrity of blood vessel walls, block the intestinal lumen and damage internal organs. They produce toxic substances that enter the bloodstream.
What worms do humans have?
Helminths inhabit the intestines or parasitize, inhabiting any other organ. There are several varieties of them, the most common being nematodes. Their body is elongated, in cross section - round, with a shape narrowed at the edges. Infection is most common:
- roundworms, trichinae, settling in the small intestine and other organs;
- bull worms that live in the colon and feed on blood and mucous membranes;
- spines accumulating in the caecum and colon.
Pinworms are especially common in children when stools are analyzed for enterobiosis.
In addition to the above, there are more than a hundred less common parasites that inhabit different parts of the intestine. For example, such worms in humans as hookworm and roundworms are in a thin segment, the thick area is often clogged with whips. People host adult tapeworms with a flat long body. Large bovine and porcine tapeworms, cestodes, echinococci settle in the intestines.
Methyl worms have shoots on their body from a few millimeters (Siberian methyl) to 7 cm (fasciola) long. Parasites pass to humans as a result of eating raw fish with unboiled water. Sometimes a worm infection occurs through the skin while swimming in lakes, rivers (schistosomes). Once established, they can feel great in various human organs for several years.
Infection methods
The ways in which different types of worms get inside are different. The main method of parasite infestation is faecal-oral. It is associated with the penetration of helminths along with food and water. People simply swallow invisible organisms when they forget to wash their hands before eating. Worms in the stool are rarely seen with the naked eye. But the flies that fly over the excrement always lay their eggs. If the insect sits on a piece of food, then the chances of infection increase significantly.
Human worms appear after work without gloves with soil, sand. In the latter case, young children are more likely to suffer from parasites for which sandstone is a favorite place to play. On the surface of the soil helminths fall along with the feces of animals - cats, dogs, livestock and are carried by flies. They enter the human body through unwashed hands, microtraumas on the skin and insufficiently processed vegetables. Inhaling street dust saturated with very stubborn larvae can also be contagious.
Another factor contributing to the appearance of worms is the use of poor water quality. It is highly undesirable to swallow the 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. Human consumption of raw fish, meat threatens to infect and parasites - cattle, swine tapeworm, tapeworm - will settle in the body. In medical directories there are pictures of worms, the length of which reaches several meters.
Symptoms and signs of helminth infestation
Becoming a host of parasites, people begin to lose weight quickly, feel exhausted, look pale. Indicate the presence of worms:
- body aches;
- painful sensations in the joints;
- general weakness;
- loss of appetite;
- diarrhea or constipation;
- bouts of nausea.
But to make sure that helminths are present in the body, it is necessary to undergo an examination. This will help identify stools in the stool or specific antibodies in the blood.
Symptoms are worse in the absence of timely treatment. Depending on which worms predominate in the body, the places of their accumulation will differ according to the signs of the disease. Bile stasis occurs when the ducts are blocked by parasites. The person feels heaviness and pain in the right hypochondrium, bitterness in the mouth. Periodically tormented by bouts of nausea, constipation.
Many worms secrete substances that irritate the intestinal wall - diarrhea occurs in which the stools are watery, foaming. In addition, the patient has increased flatulence, severe rumbling in the abdomen, pain in the navel.
Worms that enter the human body can migrate. Their progress is accompanied by severe pain. Most often, a patient with helminthiasis believes that there is an exacerbation of arthritis. In fact, the unpleasant sensations of worms are the body's reaction to tissue damage.
A person experiences a state of apathy, impaired ability to concentrate, memory problems. This happens when parasites are present in the body for a long time. There is a previously unusual allergy, intolerance to the body of some products. Worms are the culprit for skin problems. The most common:
- acne, pimples all over the body;
- urticaria, atopic dermatitis, eczema;
- early wrinkle formation;
- hair loss, bald spots.
The more common rhinitis, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia may be caused by the migration of worms through the bloodstream. Sometimes the parasites settle in the lungs, lay eggs there, which mature and become full-fledged individuals. On x-rays taken after the CT scan, the worms look like focal eclipses with a round or oval shape.
The release of toxic waste products from helminths into the blood makes people complain of:
- constant anxiety, irritability;
- depression;
- insomnia.
Both obesity and underweight are common symptoms of worms. Digestive problems, intoxication lead to poor appetite. A person loses weight. Prolonged 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.
Drug therapy
Treatment of helminthiasis without prior consultation with a specialist is not recommended for several reasons. The first is that even after repeated transmission of feces for analysis, it is not always possible to identify parasites. To determine exactly what type of worms have settled in a person, you will need to do a more detailed examination, including:
- general blood test with leukoformula;
- biochemical blood test (liver function tests);
- analysis of stool and rectal mucus.
Sometimes, in order to detect the worms that have attacked the body, it is necessary to examine the bile, sputum and small areas of the skin.
Self-medication for worms in an adult or child is a dubious endeavor. Pharmacological preparations are quite toxic. At the same time, many of them have an action directed against a certain species without affecting others.
If, according to the test results, worms are found in a person's stool or the presence of parasites is confirmed by other diagnostic procedures, the infectious disease doctor chooses the most effective medicine. The doctor prescribing the pills must specify exactly how many times the medicine and its dose will need to be taken, depending on the patient's weight. The treatment of worms is carried out:
- Albendazole;
- Parasicvantel;
- Medamine;
- Pyrantel.
The procedure for removing worms is supplemented with drugs that eliminate intoxication (sorbents), anti-allergic drugs, vitamins.
Preventive measures
Given that worms are very easily transmitted by animals or an infected person, every effort should be made to prevent them from occurring. To do this, you must strictly adhere to hygiene. An important factor for protection against worms is the proper preparation of the products from which the food is prepared.
Doctors recommend an annual prophylactic procedure to clean worms in the spring and fall. Even if there are no obvious symptoms of infection in humans. For maximum effectiveness, it is obtained if all family members take the medicine recommended by the doctor. Most parasites are so small that you can only see a picture of the eggs of some worms, taken with a powerful microscope when examining the feces, another biomaterial.