Various scientific studies have confirmed the association of many human pathological conditions with parasitic diseases. Often worms in humans do not give any characteristic symptoms of the disease, so they can exist in the body for many years, provoking dangerous complications and pathologies. Sometimes the only symptom of a parasitic disease may be black spots in the stool or light-colored eggs of helminths and worms in the stool. To find out if there are worms in the human body, it is necessary to conduct a diagnosis. First of all, they do research on feces, so it is so important to know what worms look like in human feces, and also to understand the types of parasites in humans. In addition to the types of parasites, our article will describe the symptoms of worms in humans and methods for diagnosing parasitic disease.
Symptoms of worms in humans
It is easy to understand what worm eggs look like in the feces and the worms themselves in the photo. The different worms in the person in the picture can vary greatly. The size of some egg worms or adults is very small, other parasites in the feces and their eggs can be seen without a microscope. Therefore, when answering the question of whether eggs can be seen with the naked eye, it is necessary to take into account which worms live in humans.
Eggs in the stool do not always appear, sometimes the only symptoms of helminthiasis may be the following conditions:
- weight loss;
- general weakness;
- there is often rapid fatigue;
- the skin becomes pale;
- itching in the anal area.
However, some of the symptoms of the disease that are caused by worm larvae or adults, the patient does not even associate with worms. These symptoms include the following:
- flatulence, diarrhea and constipation;
- nausea and vomiting;
- pain in the navel and right hypochondrium.
When such symptoms occur, it is necessary to first examine the fecal masses. In this case, the smallest worm eggs can be found in the faeces. As the self-identification of worm eggs is difficult, it is better to send the faeces to the laboratory for analysis. Only a specialist knows what worm eggs look like.
Sometimes there are no parasites in the stool, but the patient has signs of general intoxication. When parasitic toxins affect the human nervous system, the following symptoms of the disease appear:
- dizziness;
- fatigue;
- headache;
- increased irritability;
- drowsiness;
- depression;
- convulsions;
- temperature rise.
If worms and their eggs are found in a child's stool, then often the symptoms of the disease are complemented by various allergic manifestations:
- urticaria, dermatitis;
- skin rash;
- itchy skin, redness.
Worms in the feces of an adult or child can be detected only at a certain stage of the disease and even then not always. Therefore, it is not as important to know what the larvae of the parasite look like as it is necessary to understand the symptoms of a particular parasitic disease:
- Pinworms, which cause enterobiosis, usually provoke severe itching in the anal area, which worsens at night. This is due to the fact that these nematodes (roundworms) lay their eggs on the perianal folds, crawling out of the anus.
- A characteristic symptom of hookworm, diphyllobotriasis and trichuria will be anemia and beriberi.
- The symptoms of ascariasis depend on the stage of development of the helminth. In the migration stage, the clinical picture is expressed by a complex of symptoms of the respiratory system (shortness of breath, cough, bronchitis, pneumonia). In the intestinal stage, symptoms characteristic of gastrointestinal pathologies appear. In this case, black spots may appear in the stool.
- With trichinosis, fever, swelling of the face and muscle pain occur.
- If trematodes have settled in the liver, then pancreatitis develops, yellowing of the sclera and skin occurs and the spleen increases. In this form of the disease, black threads and spots in the fecal masses may be missing.
- Schistosomiasis causes bleeding in the genitourinary system, so there may be urine mixed with blood. Often the parasite causes digestive disorders.
Types of worms
In the photo, worms in humans can vary dramatically depending on their belonging to a particular species. So, tapeworms and roundworms parasitize in the human body. In the photo, helminths of the same variety may also differ. Thus, pinworms, nematodes, Trichinella, roundworms, hookworms belong to the order of roundworms. There are two classes of flatworms:
- cestodes (this is swine and bovine tapeworm, echinococcus, tapeworm, alveococcus);
- trematodes (they include schistosomes, opisthorchias, paragonims).
You can find out what this or that helminth looks like from the photo. We will describe the characteristics of the existence of the main parasites of the human body:
- Pinworms provoke enterobiosis, the symptoms of which appear on the third day after infection. Eggs enter the body with unwashed hands, fruits and herbs.
- Vlasoglav causes a disease called trichuria. Its first symptoms can be seen 21-35 days after the invasion. Infection occurs during cooking in unhygienic conditions. Usually the patient suffers from diarrhea, loss of appetite, abdominal pain. It may be inflammation of the appendix.
- The culprit of diphyllobotriasis is tapeworm. The disease manifests itself within 2-5 weeks from the moment of infection. The parasite enters the body with infected poorly fried fish. This helminth can live in the human body for decades, causing anemia, beriberi, intestinal obstruction, allergies and intoxication.
- Roundworms are the culprits for ascariasis. It is when infected with these worms that blackheads can appear in the feces of an adult and a child. Up to three months pass from the moment of invasion to the appearance of the clinical picture. The parasite enters the intestines with plant food.
- Ascaris - hookworm provokes hookworm. The infection can occur when working in the ground, walking barefoot on the ground. The disease manifests itself 5-8 days after infection. First there is itching and swelling at the site of penetration of the parasite, then cough with profuse sputum, dizziness, weakness.
- Giant liver fluke causes fascioliasis. The parasite enters the body with contaminated water and plant foods. The first signs of the disease can be seen after 0, 5-1 month from the onset of the invasion. The disease is manifested by dry cough, fever, abdominal pain and loss of appetite.
- The worm called Trichinella is the culprit for trichinosis in humans. Helminths can enter the human body with poorly processed meat and fats. The first symptoms appear two days after infection. The patient usually suffers from diarrhea, heartburn and nausea.
Diagnosis of helminthiasis
When many helminths are diagnosed, a stool test is performed first. If you find black spots in the stool or white worms in the stool, then this analysis should be done as soon as possible.
However, not only stools with blackheads are an indication of coprogram. Often, even invisible to the naked eye eggs can be easily identified under a microscope. A more accurate diagnosis of fecal masses for the detection of helminthic DNA particles is performed using the PCR technique.
If a person has a lot of blackheads in the stool, then among other diagnostic methods it is worth mentioning the following:
- Scraping from the area near the anus;
- Blood test by ELISA, PCR, RNGA and other methods;
- Don't forget to do blood chemistry and KLA;
- In some cases, ultrasound, MRI and CT are performed to identify the sites of parasites;
- An X-ray is indicated to diagnose the migratory stage of helminths.
In certain forms of helminthiasis, sputum, rectal mucus, urine and gallbladder contents may be examined. Also, endoscopic examination is sometimes used in diagnosis.