Today we will talk about how to determine the presence of parasites in the human body, what symptoms can indicate their presence and which methods of instrumental diagnostics are the most effective. Symptoms of helminthiasis are sometimes very difficult to recognize, because many of the signs are similar in nature to other diseases. To protect yourself, you should know how to accurately determine the presence of parasites. So - this article is only for a sane person who takes care of the health of the whole family.
Many of my friends ask me if it is possible to identify helminths at home or is it better to consult a specialist. To make you understand which method best shows their presence, I have written this material. The article will reveal these points: how to identify parasites in the human body - traditional and non-traditional methods.
We correctly diagnose parasites in the human body
You can find out that a person is tormented by parasites from his appearance and the work of the whole organism - the presence of helminths is clearly noticeable. The signals that the body gives cannot always be interpreted correctly for the simple reason that the symptoms are very similar to those typical of other common diseases.
Therefore, do not self-medicate - this will not affect the helminths. If you notice recurring symptoms of anxiety, it's best to see a doctor.
How to find out if an adult has parasites
Worms can stay in the body for a long time without showing any obvious signs, having entered the human body with a touch of the animal, when eating unwashed fruits and vegetables.
It is important to know how to tell if a person has worms, because the consequences of prolonged activity of the worms in the body can cause serious health problems for a person.
As soon as the worms start their activity in the body, it is very difficult to "calculate" them, therefore, there are no symptoms in the initial stages of the infection. Noticeable symptoms of worms in the body begin to appear when parasites begin to multiply and lead an active life, literally feeding on the human body and depleting it.
Signs of parasites in adults will be as follows:
- diarrhea of a prolonged or episodic nature (this symptom may be caused by the fact that some types of parasites secrete an enzyme that causes intestinal disturbances, as well as the fact that parasites cause disruption of the gastrointestinal tract);
- bloating, gas, discomfort in the abdomen;
- constipation and stagnation of bile - worms, which are large in size, can block the bile ducts, in turn, this causes constipation (the same happens if the parasites multiply and remain in the body in colonies);
- allergy, which occurs due to the fact that worms weaken the immune system, as well as the fact that the activity of worms poisons the body, and allergy is the body's inability to cope with these poisons and attack;
- irritable intestinal cider - occurs because worms constantly irritate the walls of the intestine, which makes them inflamed;
- pain in muscles and joints: some types of worms can live in joint fluid and injure muscles and joints, causing the same discomfort as arthrosis;
- presence of dermatitis, urticaria, eczema and other skin rashes;
- acne, pimples, hair loss, yellowness under the eyes - all this speaks of worms, as they take from the body the necessary nutrients to maintain a normal appearance;
- anemia - a symptom appears due to the fact that parasites attach themselves to the intestinal walls and suck blood from the vessels;
- strong weight loss against the background of gastrointestinal disorders and increased appetite.
It is possible to understand that a person has worms if at least 5 of the above symptoms appear.
By itself, grinding your teeth in a dream has nothing to do with worms! This is a symptom of a malfunction of the nervous system. Finding these symptoms in yourself is the first stage. Follow-up actions aim to confirm the diagnosis and determine which parasites were attacking the organism.
How to find out if a child has worms
Children are more susceptible to worm infection, which can be caused by their close contact with the outside world, as well as by the use of common utensils and bathrooms in kindergartens and schools.
Since parents cannot keep track of what the child is touching, it is important that they know the symptoms of parasites in children, which, unlike adults, are much more pronounced.
In preschool and school age children, the signs of parasites are as follows:
- Sharp or aching belly pain;
- Swelling;
- diarrhea, constipation or vomiting;
- Express apathy, lethargy.
There are a number of additional symptoms by which it can be understood that pinworms, nematodes and lamblia have lodged in the child's body:
- nocturnal itching in the anal area;
- restless sleep;
- has weakened immunity and frequent colds in this context.
In addition to alerting parents to these symptoms, they can also do home tests for parasites in children.
There are two ways to do this:
- In the morning, you should apply duct tape to the baby's anus, then examine this piece of tape under a magnifying glass. If there are parasites, their eggs will be visible on the tape.
- The baby's feces can be seen, as nematodes sometimes come out with the feces.
- Sometimes children feel sick, so pinworms can be found in the vomit, which come out this way when there are a lot of them in the stomach.
It is very difficult to identify the presence of worms in newborns and in those patients who have the disease in latent form, since in the first case children cannot declare and tell the symptoms, so parents have no reason to worry, and in the secondcase the symptoms are simply absent.
Although there are some home methods for determining the presence of parasites in the body, only laboratory tests can establish this fact with certainty.
That is why it is important to be able to recognize the signs of parasites in the body and to contact medical institutions in time for diagnosis. Only a careful attitude towards your body will help to avoid complications with mumps, as well as their appearance in general.
How to determine the presence of parasites in the human body - diagnostic methods
According to the World Health Organization, one in four inhabitants of the planet has signs of parasite infection, even more people are potential carriers of helminths.
The presence of "illegal immigrants" does not pass without a trace to the body: they poison it with the products of their vital activity, rebuild the immune system, cause inflammatory changes in the digestive system and damage other organs.
Helminthiasis can be masked by various diseases, which complicates the timely diagnosis of parasites in the patient's body and leads to a delay in the pathological process.
Routine analyzes are not always reliable, some types of helminths can only be detected by an expensive examination. Therefore, the question of how to identify parasites in the human body is very relevant for most of the world population.
The suspicion of the presence of one or more parasitic creatures inside the human body may not arise immediately. For a long time "illegal immigrants" did not show themselves in any way, especially in adults with good immunity.
However, suspicion of the presence of parasites in the body may arise if there is a combination of several of the following:
- Persistent and stubborn allergies - persistent rash, itching, recurrent urticaria, dermatitis unresponsive to conventional therapy. Especially often allergic reactions on the skin are found in echinococcosis, toxocariasis and ascariasis.
Patients are often diagnosed with bronchial asthma.
- Weakening of immunity - increased susceptibility to viruses, pathogenic fungi and bacteria up to the development of serious diseases such as oncology, HIV.
- Weight loss with increased or maintained appetite.
- Itching in the anus in the evening and at night - combined with the detection of small live worms writhing in the stool, this is a one hundred percent sign of pinworm infection and requires no further testing.
- Asthenia: weakness, increased fatigue, decreased performance, headache, sleep disturbance. These symptoms are associated with the constant poisoning of the nervous system with parasitic toxins.
- Dyspepsia - nausea in the morning, bloating, unstable stools from diarrhea to constipation, increased salivation.
These signs are not specific to determine the presence of parasites, they can be present in various diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
- Other symptoms: papillomas on the skin, cracked heels, "geographic tongue", anemia in blood tests, frequent cough that is difficult to treat, swelling of the legs, pain in muscles and joints, etc.
Traditional analyzes
Diagnosis of parasites living in the human intestine is often carried out by the old proven, at the same time cheap and reliable method of detecting their eggs in feces under a microscope. To do this, you need to collect fresh feces in a glass dish after the independent stool, it is best to do this in the morning.
As a last resort, it is allowed to store the collected material for no more than 10 hours in the refrigerator. It happens that it is necessary to donate feces for worms at least 3 times for 2 to 3 weeks, which is associated with the peculiarities of the life cycle of parasites.
This test detects or does not detect worms that live inside the human body.
This method is effective for types of helminths such as:
- Strongyloids (hookworms), roundworms, whipworms;
- Pork and bull tapeworms, broad tapeworm;
- Hepatic (feline) fluke, schistosomes.
We often diagnose enterobiasis ourselves with nocturnal itching and pinworms in the stool, especially in children. There are ways to scrape from the perianal area: at home using duct tape or in a clinic where the fence is made by a professional doctor using a special spatula.
The reliability of this analysis is high if it is performed in the morning before stool and hygiene procedures. Sometimes several repeated studies are needed at intervals of a couple of days.
Not everyone likes to donate feces several times, so the question arises of how to detect parasites in the human body using blood tests. Modern science offers three main methods:
- PCR (polymerase chain reaction) - detection of DNA worms in human blood;
- serological diagnostics (ELISA) - detection of antibodies to parasites;
- genetic research - investigation of the pathogen's genome.
Blood tests are performed in specialized laboratories and are used to diagnose diseases such as:
- Echinococcosis;
- Opisthorchiasis;
- Giardiasis;
- Cystecircosis;
- Fascioliasis;
- Amoebic dysentery;
- Toxocariasis;
- Trichinosis.
In addition, the stage of the disease and the duration of the infection can be determined by the blood test.
Unconventional diagnostics
Unwanted tenants can live in the host's body for decades. Symptoms of the diseases they cause often appear when there are a lot of helminths. Unfortunately, the detection of parasites in the human body also sometimes takes place.
Worms cannot always be found quickly by conventional means, even repeated fecal tests can give no more than 20% positive results.
Serological methods for diagnosing parasites in the body of patients are more accurate and effective methods, especially when carried out in the later stages of the disease.
One of the most modern methods is the vegetative resonance test or bioresonance diagnostic, the essence of which is the recording of the electromagnetic waves emitted by parasites with a frequency characteristic of their specific type.
Computer diagnostics is based on the use of special programs that allow the comparative analysis of healthy and diseased organs in a patient.
Practical doctors do not always welcome this type of patient examination, preferring traditional tests. However, everyone has the right to decide for themselves how to identify parasites in the human body, the main thing is to do it on time and reliably.
Diagnostic difficulties: how to find out if a person has worms
About 1. 2 billion people are infected with helminths every year. Besides, the majority don't even know it. Poor health, weakness, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, we would rather blame stress and poor nutrition.
But these and other symptoms can signal "the invasion of strangers". How to find them and how to treat them? Helminthiasis is an insidious disease and can be masked by the characteristic symptoms of a wide variety of diseases.
For example, if parasites have settled in the lungs, a person will be bothered by bouts of dry cough, which occurs for no reason and does not go away even after prolonged treatment.
If the worms have lodged in the intestine, symptoms may manifest as abdominal discomfort, tendency to constipation or diarrhea, intolerance to fatty foods, nausea and edema. Such complaints are not uncommon. You can cure for years, for example, gastritis or dysbiosis, not realizing that the cause of the malaise is the helminths that parasitize in the human body.
What tests will help identify parasites
If you suspect the presence of uninvited guests in yourself or your child, you should definitely contact a doctor and undergo an examination. Diagnosing helminthiasis is not an easy task, because it is quite problematic to detect parasites.
The most common method is to test the feces for worm eggs. But, unfortunately, it is ineffective, because the worms have different stages of development and do not always lay eggs. To identify parasites, it is necessary to perform a stool test 3-4 times, while there is no guarantee that the analysis will show the real picture.
The immunological blood test method is considered more accurate.
This analysis allows you to determine the presence of antibodies to helminths in the body, helps to determine the type of parasites, their number, to track the development dynamics of the process. Regular blood tests are recommended for worms, especially if the family has small children and pets.
Recently, the presence of parasites was determined only by duodenal probing and analysis of feces by microscopic studies, the purpose of which is to detect isolated helminths or their fragments, eggs and larvae.
Helminth eggs and larvae that parasitize the liver, biliary tract, pancreas and duodenum have been found in the bile and duodenum. Faecal samples were examined for intestinal forms of helminthiasis. If suspected sputum was examined for paragonimiasis, urine for urogenital schistosomiasis.
But the reliability of these studies depends on the professionalism of the staff - whether the laboratory assistant will notice parasites during the microscopic examination.
Furthermore, if the parasite has not laid eggs at the same time as the control is carried out, its presence will go unnoticed even with a highly qualified laboratory assistant. Often, only from 8-10 attempts can you get a positive result.
Today there are immunological studies that allow to determine in the blood of an infected person the presence of antigens and antibodies against parasites of various kinds. The reliability of such analyzes depends on the life cycle of the parasites and their amount in the body:
- The enzyme-linked immunosorbent test (ELISA) is used to determine antibodies (immunoglobulins) and antigens (the parasites themselves, their metabolic products). Immunoglobulins (substances of a protein nature) are produced in the body and are anti-antigen antibodies. This method has a high sensitivity and specificity, which is 90%.
The main advantage of this method is the ability to determine the type of parasites, their number and the ability to track the development dynamics of the process, which is indicated by the level of antibodies.
- ELISA tests are evidence of the body's response to invasion. In this case, laboratory tests are also required that identify parasites or their larvae, cysts, eggs (microscopic examination of biological material). However, direct file identification of the parasite is not always possible due to its tissue localization (trichinosis, echinococcosis, toxocariasis) or due to the limited number of parasitic individuals and their concentration in the test material. In these cases, the sensitivity of ELISA tests has a clear and unconditional advantage.
- In the diagnosis of the acute phase of helminthiasis and diseases caused by tissue helminths or larval stages (echinococcosis, cysticercosis, trichinosis, toxocariasis), other serological methods (methods of blood analysis) are widely used for the detection of antigens and antibodies: RNGA (indirect hemagglutination reaction), RAL (latex agglutination reaction), RSK (complement binding reaction), RIF (immunofluorescence reaction); as well as ultrasound and radiographic examination of organs, computed tomography, endoscopy and endobiopsy.
- PCR Diagnostics offers parasite analyzes based on DNA analysis. This method can detect invasions by intracellular protozoa, viruses, and parasites (for example, the parasitization of chlamydia in Trichomonas).
But this method does not allow to reveal the severity of the invasion - the number of parasites in the body.
- Energy-informative medicine offers bioresonance diagnostics based on the fact that every living object and thing creates a certain frequency of vibration, with which they are identified. And even if there are still no symptoms of the disease, this method can identify the pathogen.
What you need to know about egg worm tests
In order not to repeat the tests, it is important to take into account several nuances when donating feces on an egg worm:
- It is necessary to collect material for analysis, ie feces, approximately 2-3 hours after meals.
- Bowel emptying should occur no later than 24 hours before the test.
- The most accurate results can be obtained if the analysis is performed 30 minutes after emptying.
- Store the test material in a cold place in a closed plastic or glass container.
- The material should be withdrawn from the sides, center and beginning and end of the stool.
In addition, they can prescribe an analysis such as a smear for enterobiasis.
It is performed as follows: the attendant holds a special stick in the area between the buttocks - where the anus is located. It is this analysis that helps identify the presence of pinworms in the body.
What symptoms indicate a parasite infestation
Very often, a person wonders how to determine if there are parasites in the body, then when the state of health may already be seriously compromised. The problem of parasitism is underestimated in society and is not as highlighted in preventive medicine as desired.
People tend to ignore the signs of damage to the body by uninvited guests as long as the vital activity of the parasites affects normal health. In order to recognize the parasitic enemy in time and successfully get rid of it, you should know the main signs of its presence in the body.
Unwanted guests
Parasites are a variety of life forms that survive on the host's body. Human parasites can live on the surface of the skin, infect mucous membranes, internal organs and cells, feed on tissues, blood.
They steal the owner, consume nutrients from food, while constantly poisoning the human body with the products of their vital activity.
Types of parasites by habitat in the human body:
- Endoparasites are lower animals and plant organisms that live inside the host. These are helminths (worms), lamblia, toxoplasma, echinococcus, parasitic protozoa and other organisms. This category also includes viruses, fungi and bacteria.
- Ectoparasites are parasites that live on the surface of the body, in the environment, feeding on blood and human tissue cells. The most common are lice, bedbugs, ticks, fleas, kandiru catfish and diptera (mosquitoes, gadflies, flies).
It is quite simple to determine the defeat of the human body by ectoparasites, since their activity is often characterized by pronounced symptoms:
- Itching;
- Rash;
- Burning;
- Redness;
- Pain at the bite site;
- The presence of a visible bite or penetration wound.
Diagnostic analysis is performed using visual identification or microscopy (magnification under the microscope).
It is much more difficult to find ectoparasites, since in the process of evolution the internal "parasites" have learned to feel good and perform destructive work in the host's body, practically without showing themselves.
Protozoa and helminths (worms) - the oldest companions of man, insidious and dangerous neighbors, can boast of this ability in particular. There is evidence that, from the time of infection to the onset of symptoms, indicating the presence of intruders, it can take anywhere from several months to ten years.
External manifestations
Most parasites have a long life cycle and reproduce quite actively in the host's body, causing diseases characterized by a recurrent and chronic course.
External manifestations of parasite infestation include:
- Various types of allergic reactions, expressed:
- rash;
- itching;
- urticaria;
- Quincke's edema;
- fever.
The degree of manifestation of the allergy depends on the location of the parasite in the body, its contact with tissues and organs and the amount of toxins released.
- Disorders of the digestive tract (vomiting, nausea, belching, indigestion, salivation).
- Skin lesions (eczema, ulcers, dermatitis, papillomas, acne, acne).
- Pale skin and mucous membranes.
- Cosmetic problems (brittle nails, clipped hair ends, seborrhea, excessive dry skin, hair loss, premature wrinkles).
- Weight jumps. There is a decrease in body weight due to a lack of nutrients and a decrease in appetite, as well as obesity due to a general weakening of the body and metabolic disorders, cravings for sweets.
- Chronic fatigue syndrome, manifested by general fatigue, drowsiness, insomnia, weakness, decreased concentration and memory impairment.
- Persistent headaches caused by intoxication of the body.
- Bruxism (teeth grinding in sleep).This symptom is more pronounced in children.
- Swelling of the limbs.
- Intermittent cough with no other symptoms.
- Pain in muscles and joints of unclear etiology.
- Nervous disorders. Parasites often cause depression, agitation, anxiety, irritability.
It is equally important to know the obvious signs of helminths in the body:
- Disturbances of the gut (constipation, diarrhea, bloating, flatulence, spasms, irritable bowel syndrome, oily stools, stool discoloration). Worms in the human body can reach significant sizes, so they physically block the movement of feces, disrupt the work of other organs (bile ducts, etc. ).
- Itching in the perineum and anus.
- Visual detection of helminths in the folds of the anus.
- Presence of helminthic invasion in the vomit.