About 80% of the inhabitants of the planet are infected with various helminths. Often it is necessary to treat a disease for a long time and unsuccessfully, the real cause of which is parasites. Worms that can live in a person violate the integrity of the vascular 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 themselves, inhabiting any other organ. There are several varieties of them, the most common are nematodes. Their body is elongated, in cross section - round, in shape, narrowed at the ends. Infection occurs most often:
- nematodes, trichinae, which are deposited in the small intestine and other organs;
- whipworms that live in the large intestine and feed on blood and mucous membranes;
- pinworms that accumulate in the cecum and colon.
Pinworms are found especially often in children when stool is being tested for enterobiasis.
In addition to those listed, there are more than a hundred less common parasites that inhabit different parts of the intestine. For example, such worms in humans as hookworms and roundworms are found in a thin segment, the thick section is often obstructed by whipworms. People become adult hosts of tapeworms with a long, flat body. Large bovine and swine tapeworms, tapeworms, echinococcus settle in the intestine.
Fluke worms have suckers on their bodies that range from several millimeters (Siberian trematode) to 7 cm (fasciola). Parasites pass to humans due to the consumption of raw fish, with unboiled water. Sometimes worm infection occurs through the skin when swimming in lakes, rivers (schistosome). After settling once, they can feel great in various human organs for several years.
Methods of Infection
The ways in which different types of worms enter are varied. The main method of parasitic infection is fecal-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 stool are rarely seen with the naked eye. But the flies that hover over the excrement always carry their eggs. If the insect sits on a piece of food, the chances of infection increase significantly.
Worms in humans appear after working without gloves with earth, sand. In the latter case, young children are more likely to suffer from parasites, for which the sandbox 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. Inhalation of street dust saturated with very stubborn larvae can also become infected.
Another factor contributing to the appearance of worms is the use of poor quality water. It is highly undesirable to ingest the liquid while swimming in the sea, river or lake. It contains a huge number of parasites from the feces of fish, water birds and pets. Human consumption of raw meat and fish threatens to become infected and parasites - cattle, pork tapeworms, tapeworms - settle in the body. In medical reference books there are photos of worms, the length of which reaches several meters.
Symptoms and signs of helminthic invasion
Becoming the host of parasites, people begin to lose weight quickly, feel exhausted, appear pale. Indicates the presence of worms:
- muscle pain;
- 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. It will help identify worms in the stool or specific antibodies in the blood.
Symptoms worsen in the absence of prompt treatment. Depending on which worms prevail in the body, the places of their accumulation will differ in the signs of the disease. Biliary stasis occurs when the ducts are blocked by parasites. A 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 walls - diarrhea appears, in which the stool is watery, foamy. In addition to this, the patient has increased gas production, a strong rumbling in the abdomen, pain in the navel.
Worms, once in the human body, are able to migrate. Their progress is accompanied by severe pain. Most often, a patient with helminthiasis thinks he is having an exacerbation of arthritis. Indeed, unpleasant sensations with worms are the body's response to tissue injury.
A person experiences a state of apathy, has a deterioration in the ability to concentrate, memory problems. This happens if the parasites have been present in the body for a long time. There is a previously unusual allergy, intolerance to the body of some products. Worms are the culprits of skin problems. The most common:
- acne, pimples all over the body;
- urticaria, atopic dermatitis, eczema;
- wrinkles too early;
- hair loss, bald patches.
More frequent rhinitis, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia can be caused by the migration of worms into the bloodstream. Sometimes parasites settle in the lungs, lay eggs there, which mature and turn into full-fledged individuals. On X-ray images, scans obtained after tomography, the worms look like a focal darkening of a round or oval shape.
Releasing toxic helminth waste products into the bloodstream makes people complain:
- constant anxiety, irritability;
- depression;
- insomnia.
Both obesity and underweight are common symptoms of worms. Digestive problems, intoxication lead to inappetence. A person loses body weight. The prolonged presence of parasites is the reason for 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 passing the feces for analysis several times, it is not always possible to identify parasites. To determine exactly what kind of worms have settled in a person, you will need to carry out a more detailed examination, including:
- general blood test with leucoformula;
- biochemical blood test (liver function test);
- analysis of feces and rectal mucus.
Sometimes bile, sputum and small sections of the skin need to be examined to detect worms that have infested the body.
Independently treating worms in an adult or child is a dubious undertaking. Pharmacological preparations are quite toxic. At the same time, many of them have direct action against a particular species, without affecting others.
If, based on the test results, worms have been found in a person's stool or the presence of parasites has been confirmed by other diagnostic procedures, the infectious disease doctor selects the most effective drug. The doctor who prescribes the pills must indicate exactly how many times the medicine should be taken and its dose, based on the patient's weight. The treatment of worms is carried out:
- Albendazole;
- Paraziquantel;
- Medamin;
- Mebendazole;
- Pirantel.
The procedure for getting rid of worms is supplemented with drugs that remove intoxication (sorbents), antiallergic drugs, vitamins.
Preventive measures
Since worms are very easily transmitted from animals or from an infected person, it is necessary to do everything possible to prevent their appearance. To do this, you must strictly adhere to hygiene. An important factor of protection against worms is the correct preparation of products from which food is prepared.
Doctors recommend an annual prophylactic procedure to cleanse worms in spring and autumn. Although there are no obvious symptoms of infection in a person. To achieve its maximum effectiveness is achieved if all members of the family take the remedy recommended by the doctor. Most parasites are so small that you can only see a photo of some worm eggs, made through a powerful microscope when examining the stool, another biomaterial.